


Behind the Scenes

by suallenparker



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Crime, F/M, Fluff, Happy End guaranteed!, Humor, Love, Love Confessions, Romance, The Bachelor AU, Undercover AU, in universe au set before the new york loki disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2018-09-15 20:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 31,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9255482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suallenparker/pseuds/suallenparker
Summary: After her former partner Phil Coulson almost got killed in action, the traumatized SHIELD agent Melinda May returns to duty. She and Phil  go undercover as contestants of the celebrated TV show “Forever Love” to catch a stalker and to trip a traitor.This story is part of theLLF Comment Project





	1. Five Limousines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set in a Universe where Phil quit his Tony Stark babysitting duties after the first gig and returned to active field work. So, basically their backstories stay the same until after the first Iron Man Movie. 
> 
> So to not disappoint your expectations later, take this as your warning: This is a love story. This is also a bit of a crime story. And a tiny bit of a spy story. But mostly this is a hopefully fun and entertaining love story. It’s my favorite kind of story to tell and I hope you’ll enjoy this one with me!  
> THANK YOU TO @crazymaryt for talking me through my freak out earlier. I hope you enjoy this!  
> Thank you as well to @sapphire2994, @sdkissel, @galaxyleggings and that sweet anon for cheering me on!

This was a rough assignment. Worst undercover mission yet. Usually he loved those but this one?

The whole environment was strange. Cameras everywhere. Not that that was the problem if he’d be allowed to act according to his training and avoid them, but nope. This time the point was to make him _famous_. Well, to make his undercover persona _Eric_ famous.

At least his bedroom was camera free. And the bed was nice and big. Blue walls framed the room and two big windows gave him a view of the majestic garden of this mansion. The accessories of the room were a bit too modern for his preferences but everything looked very tasteful. There even were some fresh flowers and a fruit bowl! He had seen most of it before when he had watched tapes of the last season of “Forever Love”.

Damn, he couldn’t believe he would have to star in a show called “ _Forever Love_ ”. He was a well trained SHIELD agent, for christ’s sake!

But the next weeks, possibly months, he'll be spending his time and expertice to fool innocent people to fall in love with him. Each week he would be able to free some and some he would keep with him by giving them a rose at some stupid ceremony.

Watching the show had been as entertaining as watching the Super Nanny, he had to admit. But he didn't want to live it!

Too bad that this was his idea …

Phil pressed his lips together as he held the cell against his ear.

“This is so boring,” Garrett whined at the other end of the line.

Phil wanted to punch him and vomit at the same time.

But he hadn’t punched Garrett when he came to visit Phil in the hospital, and he wouldn’t blow his chance to nail Garrett and his whole racist organization for a selfish anger tantrum. Not when his plan was already set in motion.

So Phil just smiled. And kept face. “We could still switch,” he said.

“So I’d blow my cover forever?” Garrett snorted. “No way!”

“Then stop complaining!” Phil’s voice broke in the middle of that sentence. Damn it!

“You’re nervous!” Garrett said gleefully.

“Of course I’m nervous!” Phil swallowed. The urge to punch Garrett grew stronger, but he kept his voice light. “I’m about to meet twenty strangers and they all think I could be their future husband.”

“May doesn’t.”

No, of course not. He wished hearing that wouldn’t make his heart clench.

The door to his bedroom opened and a slender woman stepped in, hands on her hips, her brows pulled together. Maggie Hill. The family resemblance was obvious. Same nose, same colored eyes. But her hair was short and black and she was at least five inches taller than her older sister Maria.

She wore black jeans, black shirt and black sneakers and a head-set.

“We need you on set,” she growled and reached out her hand. “Give me your phone!”

Phil held up his hand. “I have to go,” Phil said into his cell.

“Is that Hill’s sister?” Garrett asked.

“Yes. Talk to you later.” He hang up.

Maggie glared at him. “I don’t allow our candidates to have cell phones.”

They had been over this! “I won’t tell the others.” Phil put the cell into the inside pocket of his black suit and gave it a pat. “It’ll be my secret phone.”

“Is that really necessary?” Maggie asked.

“To do my job and to keep us all save? Yes!”

“Fine.” She sighed and grabbed his arm to pull him out of his room. He followed her to the front yard of the mansion. People moved like a very strange and very busy ant colony. Some moved lamps and lit candles, others arranged flowers in big bowls. A big camera was set up on a train in front of the entry way of the front yard, while two strong looking guys each held up a camera on their shoulder.

Maggie dragged him to the middle of the rounded drive way and squinted at him. “You’re shiny,” she said. “Have you been to make up yet?” Not waiting for an answer, she let go of him and turned to her right, where a make up artist powdered the face of the ridiculously good looking moderator of the show, Peter.

“Tori!” Maggie called.

The woman turned around. And it was Victoria Hand, wearing jeans, sneakers. She had the purple streaks in her dark hair and wore a make up bag around her waist, which should look like a silly fanny bag, but instead Hand just looked overall cool. “Yes?” she asked.

Of course Phil had known that she would join the undercover mission but seeing Vitoria Hand wearing something different but a sleek black suit was strange.

Maggie nodded at Phil. “He’s shiny,” she said.

“Fixing it now,” Hand said and walked over.

Maggie turned to Phil and raised a brow. “First limo arrives in fifteen minutes and we still have to film your introduction with Peter, so no more distraction on my set!” She made room for Hand and walked over to the moderator. “Peter, are you ready for your first scene?”

Hand dunked a big, fluffy make up brush into a tin and within a second, the brush was on Phil’s forehead.

He blinked and Hand smirked. “Hold still!” She dunked the brush into the tin again and powdered his cheeks as well. “You’d look good with a little brow treatment,” she said.

He sighed. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“Loving my job is not a crime.” She pulled out a brow pen and he pressed his lips together while she drew over his brows.

“Best I can do for you,” she said.

He glared at her.

But she kept grinning. “Stress gives you pimples, you know?”

Peter stepped into the middle of the drive way, just so that the mansion behind him and all the potted plants would frame him perfectly, and smiled into the camera. He looked like Steve Roger’s handsome brother, it was ridiculous! Blond hair, perfect teeth and baby blue eyes.

“Love is not for the faint of heart,” he said and tilted his head to catch the light with his cheekbones. “It takes courage to open yourself up to somebody, especially if you’ve been hurt before. It takes bravery to be vulnerable and honest.” His voice was velvety soft and relatable. “But that’s what it needs to find true love!” He opened his arms and raised his hands in a that’s just a fact kind of gesture. “Fortunately bravery and courage are things that our new bachelor has in abundance! He is a forty-five year old Navy SEAL and a true hero. He even took a bullet for our country!” He looked over to Phil and extended his arm.”

Phil’s stomach clenched.

Peter smiled broadly into the camera. “America, this is your new bachelor on his way to forever love, Erik!”

Hand gave him a little push and Phil planted his best fake smile on his face as he walked into the frame. He was Eric now. And Eric was ready for love!

“It’s so good to have you on the show.” Peter shook his hand.

His hand was dry and soft. Was everything about that guy perfect? Phil broadened his smile. “Hello Peter, I’m so happy to be here!”

“The women will arrive shortly and you’ll finally get to meet them!” Peter squinted and tilted his head like they were talking about a war mission. “Do you feel prepared for this new experience? Or are you nervous?”

“I’m just excited to meet all those wonderful women!” Straight out lie, of course. He dreaded having to lie to all those innocent people.

“Do you believe your true love could be in one of those limos?”

Melinda sat in one of them, so … Nope, not going down that line of thought. That line of thought only led to heartbreak. This was a job and just because Melinda had agreed to be his partner didn’t mean she wouldn’t leave again after this was over.

Phil sighed like a guy who had been heart broken before but who hadn’t given up on true love yet. “I hope so. I really hope so.” He pulled up his shoulders a little and smiled. “Maybe I’m a bit nervous.”

“You survived getting shot but this makes you nervous?”

“Well, risking to get shot is part of my job, but this is my life, you know? This could change everything.” He swallowed. “She could change everything.”

“So you’re ready for love?”

“I definitely, definitely am.”

“That’s fantastic!” Peter clapped his hands. “Because the first limo just arrived. Eric, here come your bachelorettes!”

Just that they didn’t.

They reshoot his entry twice, then they changed the camera set up and after Hand had powdered his whole face again, they finally set up to shoot the arrival of the first limousine.

His heart raced when the door to the back seat opened. A beautiful woman with long brown curls stepped out of the limousine. She wore a sparkly long bronze dress with a slit up her leg and strap-y heals.

She took a deep breath before she walked up to him. “Hi, I’m Audrey.”

Audrey Nathan, cellist. He had read her file. No priors. One speeding ticket in the last year. She left her job at the Portland Philharmonic to be on the show. No close family.

She gave him a quick hug and ran her hands over his arms. She smelled delicious!

“Hi Audrey. I’m Eric,” he said and smiled. She had beautiful brown eyes. “It’s so lovely to meet you,” he added and meant it. If he had to lie to all these women, the least thing he could do was to make them as comfortable as possible.

“I know.” She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together. “I mean, likewise. I’m a bit nervous, I’m sorry.”

She was adorable!

“That’s such a relief!” he said. “I’m nervous too. Well, I’m very excited to meet you. But also nervous. Nervous excited. I’m sorry. I ramble when I’m -”

“Nervous?” she asked, smiling again.

“Yes.”

She tilted her head and twisted one of her curls around a finger. “I usually get all tongue tied.”

“You’re doing brilliantly.”

“Likewise. It’s so nice to meet you!” She shook her head in disbelief. “I said that already, I’m so sorry. Wow, I wish I was tongue tied now!”

“Welcome to my world.”

“Is it too cheesy if I say it’s a pleasure?”

“Once you’ll get to know me you’ll notice there’s rarely anything too cheesy for my taste.”

“That’s a relief!”

“Talk to you later.”

“Can’t wait!” She ran her hand over his arm as she walked past him towards the mansion.

She was so lovely! And he hated this whole damn mission even more.  Of course he had known that he would’ve to deceive all those women. Of course he knew that it was all for the greater goods, to catch a stalker, to trip up Garrett and to save the world, as always.

At least with Melinda he knew where he stood, which was usually on the outside.

Boundaries and all that …

 

o0o

 

The limousine smelled like perfume and hairspray.

“Did Eric really get shot?” Katherine Paris asked.

That question made Melinda’s stomach clench in memory. Two nights in that damn hospital until the doctors could finally tell her that he would survive. God, she hated this.

Of course, like all the other women in the car, Katherine was stunningly beautiful. Brown, long hair, blue eyes and just a hint of freckles on her nose. The red long dress flattered her complexion. From her file Melinda knew that she was a dentist and very active on all kinds of social media, especially Pinterest and Instagram. Her favorite hobbies were bullet journaling and flossing. No priors.

Kathrine reached over Melinda to hold up her empty glass to their assistant producer, Javier.

He filled up her glass with fresh champagne. “He did get shot during a mission he had to do as a Navy SEAL,” he said and nodded solemnly. He was young, could hardly grow a beard even though the stubbles on his chin showed he really tried. He was latino, brown eyes, dark, thick brows and short dark hair.

“He’s so brave!” Grace Traeger said. A hairdresser from Utah. She was a sweetheart. Blonde, blue eyes, red lips, tight blue dress. She looked young, younger than thirty-five. And she had such an innocent joy about her. “And he’s so handsome too!”

Melinda and Lorelei nodded.

Lorelei Payne was a Physicist and worked at a faculty in New York. Short red hair, freckles all over and green eyes. The short grey dress she wore made her eyes look even greener. She loved dogs and volunteered in a shelter. Another perfect human being.

Melinda had no idea why all these women had signed up to be here.

Lorelei kept chewing on her lower lip. Her lipstick was already gone. She hadn’t said much yet, but neither had Melinda. Since she would have to be undercover for a while, Hill and she had decided to create her new persona as close to herself as possible.

Javier straightened up and tilted his head as he listened to his ear piece.

“We’re here, girls!” he said and smiled brightly. “Grace, you’re out first.”

“Feel this.” Grace leaned in and took Melinda’s hand to place the back of it over her chest. She pulled in a deep breath. “My heart is racing, I’m so nervous!”

“You seem so calm,” Lorelei said and looked at Melinda.

She squeezed Grace’s hand with an apologetic smile. “I’m freaking out on the inside.”

Lorelei sighed. “I wish I could keep my freak outs to my insides.”

Grace nodded.

“Not as fun as it sounds …” Melinda swallowed. She squeezed Grace’s hand again. “And you got this.”

“Yes, Grace,” Lorelei said. “You look amazing. You can do this!”

“Thanks, girls. See you outside!”

Javier opened the door for her. “Blow him away!”

One after one, Melinda watched the women leave the limousine.

“Diane, it’s finally your turn!” Javier said eventually.

Diane.

That was her now.

“You look great, ok?” He seemed charming, but there was something about him, that Melinda didn’t trust. His file didn’t say much about him other than that he was ambitious. How far was he willing to go for what he wanted? And was he willing to kill people if he felt wrong? “Don’t worry,” he added. You may be last but you sure aren’t least. Take a deep breath and then show him what you got! You have a lot in common, bond with him over that, ok?”

Melinda smiled at him. “Thank you.”

She focused on relaxing her body as she got out of the car. Diane needed to be soft and warm and lovable, so she couldn’t go into this in fighting mode.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him. Phil, standing in front of that fancy mansion, wearing a fancy suit and being definitely, definitely alive.

There was no reason to be nervous about this. Diane had a guarantee to win his love.

But her heart was racing as she walked towards him. Eric might be destined to fall in love with Diane. But Phil would stay out of reach.

God, she hated undercover missions!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY, this story gave me so many freak outs! I re-plotted the story about three times before I got it into a shape that made sense and then this chapter … But it’s here. I did it. And that’s something! If you enjoyed it, please don’t forget to comment, kudo and subscribe! It really helps me out. :D


	2. Shock Value

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a plan is born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU AGAIN to the wonderful @crazymaryt. Without her that story would’ve never come into existance. Thank you for all your support!  
> And THANK YOU to all of you for your likes and replies and comments! They mean so much to me!  
> Also, fair warning, this chapter is a bit angsty.

She had that sinking feeling in her gut for two hours. She blamed the food. She blamed not getting enough sleep, because anything else was irrational.

As soon as Hill walked into Melinda’s tiny office, she knew something was wrong.

Usually Hill was either bored, impatient or annoyed when she came to visit her cube, but today her face was just tense. Everything about her was just tense.

Melinda put down the stamp and the files she had been working on and straightened up.

“Coulson got shot,” Hill said and swallowed hard.

Melinda crumbled the files as her hands turned into fists.

“He’s being operated as we speak,” Hill added. “He lost a lot of blood but the shot was a through and through.”

So he was alive. Melinda took a breath. Her heart was pounding. Phil was still alive. Thank God!

“He and Garrett were ambushed in a warehouse, they both got shot, they’re both in a hospital in Detroit.”

That was barely a two hour flight from New York. “What hospital?”

“Henry Ford.”

She knew where that was. Melinda stood up. Her go bag was in her car, she could drive to the air post straight away and in less than three hours she could be there.

Hill stepped out of the door way. “Call me when you get there,” she said.

  
  


o0o

  
  


Thirty-two hours later the doctors finally allowed her to see him. Thirty -two hours … Way too much time to think about how he got here. How close she had been to losing him. Maybe if she still had been his partner, she could’ve protected him better. Maybe if she still had been his partner, he could’ve been safe.

Garrett was in the room next to him. His surgery had been over ten hours before and Melinda had already paid him a visit. He was a good agent, a good specialist. But she was better, she knew that. She was the best. The Cavalry.

Maybe she could’ve prevented this.

Garrett said the gunmen came out of nowhere.

The bullet had hit his shoulder and he wouldn’t be able to use his arm for a while. He said he had tried to warn Phil, but they had attacked before he could even get a word out. Without the homeless man calling an ambulance, they could’ve both died. Phil would’ve bleed out.

Garrett had thought he was already dead.

Unthinkable.

Of course she had been relived that Garrett had made it through, too. But that couldn’t compare to what she was feeling now.

Phil looked so pale, even compared to the white sheets of the hospital bed, he barely had any color in his face. There was an IV in his right forearm. His pulse and blood pressure were monitored.

But he was fresh out of surgery and alive.

The anesthesia hadn’t worn off yet, his eyes were close and he breathed softly, like he was asleep. Somehow that was soothing to her.

He was still breathing. He was still alive.

She felt like she could finally breathe again. She stood next to his bed and gently covered his hand with hers.

He was alive!

Phil sighed softly and turned his head towards her. His eyelids fluttered. And opened.

He blinked at her and smiled. “Melinda …” His voice was soft and hoarse.

She squeezed his hand. “Hi.”

His smile brightened. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Good to see you too.” So very, very good. She squeezed his hand again and smiled.

Then he lifted up his head and frowned at her. “What are you doing here?”

She snorted. “Was in the neighborhood.”

“No …” He squinted. “I’m in Detroit. I got shot …”

She squeezed his hand once more and he took a breath.

“You’ll be fine,” she said.

She would be too.

He was alive.

  
  


o0o

  
  


His heart was racing. His new scars itched. This was crazy. Hill would tell him that this was crazy and then things could get back to normal.

He knocked on her office door.

“Come in!” Hill called.

He opened the door and saw how she dropped something into a drawer of her desk like she had something to hide. Why would she hide something in her candy drawer? And he knew it was the candy drawer, when tough times demanded, she had shared her chocolate with him and it always came out of that drawer.

“Coulson?” She massaged the bridge of her nose and sighed. “I can’t give you a new assignment before the doctors clear you.”

“That’s not why I’m here.” He sat down across from her. The black leather chair was as comfortable as he remembered.

“Then why are you?” she asked.

“You first,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

“Whatever you dropped into your candy drawer bothers you,” he said and tilted his head.

She raised a brow. “Remember what I just told you about new assignments?”

Pushing stuff into the candy drawer didn’t feel like work, it felt personal. “I’m here if you need a friend, that is all.”

For a moment she just stared at him.

Then she sighed. “Someone’s threatening my sister.”

Phil’s eyes widened. “Maggie?”

Hill nodded. “Someone’s threatening her show, actually. Forever Love?”

Phil had met Maggie at a party once. When she hadn’t been on her phone, she had talked about her show, trying to persuade him to get on it. Apparently he’d make a perfect bachelor and she could find him true love.

Hill sighed. “So far they sent threatening letters, a lot of them. The usual crazy stuff, like I will kill people if you don’t stop producing the show of lies.”

“But that’s not what scared you.”

She pulled open the candy drawer and took out the pieces of paper. “Someone left a loaded gun in Maggie’s office with another letter today.”

A gun didn’t sound good at all. A normal troll would be satisfied by just writing letters, but leaving a gun somewhere was taking action.

She handed him the papers. They were nothing special. Black, printed words on basic letter paper. Even the font was generic.

“The last one is on top,” Hill said.

Phil started reading, _“Stop spreading lies about love and fate when you know everything you air is a blatant lie to trick viewers into watching. If you don’t stop the madness and admit the truth on air, next time I won’t leave a gun, I will shoot your “loving couple”.”_

“They always start the same, with the stop spreading lies part. And they always threaten to kill the loving couple at the end,” Hill said.

“That’s not good.” Phil looked at her. “What does Maggie want to do?”

“Produce the show as usual. She says she doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. But she gave me the letters an hour ago and told me everything so she’s definitely worried.”

“What do you want to do?”

She shrugged. “So far it’s only intimidating and stalking plus we don’t have any suspects in that sense that we have hundreds of suspects plus this isn’t really a case for the SHIELD but for the police.”

“But she’s your sister.”

“They started the casting progress for a new bachelor for their new season already. They want to start shooting in a month.”

That sounded perfect, actually! Phil nodded slowly as he nibbled on his lower lip. “I might have an idea but it’ll sound crazy.” He took a breath and shifted in his seat. “But first I have something important to tell you. Well, maybe it’s not important. I don’t have evidence yet but I have a suspicion and if I’m right we need to do something right now but if I’m wrong this would be a huge waste and I really wanna be wrong here, so …”

She stared at him.

Because he was making no sense. He sighed and straightened up. He had to say it eventually, so he’d just say it now, “I think Garrett might be working for the AfA. I think he arranged our last mission so they could take me out. I think if it hadn’t been for that class of fourth graders, I’d be dead right now because I think he suspects I’m on to him.”

Hill kept staring, though her eyebrows rose up her forehead.

His palms sweated. “That’s crazy, right?”

“Your last few missions working against the AfA fell apart at the last moment,” she said eventually. “Other missions we worked to stop them failed too.”

“So you believe me?”

“If you come in here to accuse one of your oldest friends, it’s serious.”

He pressed his lips together. “Damn it.”

She sighed heavily. “So Garrett is a mole.”

“That stupid traitorous bastard.” Phil clenched his fists. “Damn it!” he hissed. That jerk had been lying to him maybe for years. That jerk had tried to kill him! “Damn it!”

She folded her hands together.

He recognized that look in her eyes. “We can’t just kill him, Hill.”

“I know and it pisses me off,” she growled.

“That brings us to my crazy plan.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


He brought her a cup of tea. Just put it on the side of her desk and waited. She could tell from the scent of it that it was her favorite. Green tea with lemon grass.

So something was definitely up. He wanted a favor. Hopefully one where they could spent some time together.

Part of her wanted to jump out of her chair, rush around the desk and hug him. Part of her knew that it wasn’t an option. They didn’t have that sort of relationship. They hadn’t even hugged in the hospital.

She had forced herself to leave the day after he came out of surgery. He didn’t need her. She was just his former partner.

But now he was back in New York.

She looked up from her files and smiled at him. That felt appropriate. But god, she wished she could touch him again.

“Thanks,” she said. Then she raised a brow. “You know I can’t get you any real Steve Rogers memorabilia, right? I’m here to set red tape, not to remove it.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “That’s not why I’m here. This time.” He tilted his head. “Do you think Kegler would make a good undercover agent?”

She took the cup of tea and sipped on it. The tea was fantastic! But he wasn’t making much sense. Kegler was an accountant. Sure she had some training but her strength lie in dealing with numbers and structures, that was why she enjoyed working with her on any budget questions. She hated those and Kegler made sense of them with ease!

“I need an agent willing to pose as my love interest on a sort of tv documentary,” Phil added.

She frowned at him. What sort of documentary would that be? And why would SHIELD need him to go undercover there?

“I need a female agent to pretend to fall in love with me on tv, and Nat is too important an asset to expose her face to the public like that so prominently.”

Yeah, right. Undercover mission. Falling in love on TV. The usual SHIELD stuff. She smiled and took another sip. Like she would fall for that.

“Have you heard of Forever Love? It’s a show where a guy tries to find his true love and …”

“That’s your worst prank yet,” she said.

But instead of breaking into a smile and looking busted, he pressed his lips together.

“Something’s wrong,” she said.

He pulled up his shoulders and looked at her desk. “Hill and I think that Garrett has ties to the AfA.”

What? That couldn’t be right. What?

“Garrett and I were assigned to prove that the organization is planning and executing multiple white supremacist terror acts in America. Our people suspect that they’re using extraterrestrial weapons, Garrett and I were also assigned to stop these acts from happening and to secure all their weapons. We never had much success. Though we had a few good leads, we never found anything. There was never anything I could put my finger on, there was just something …” He sighed and shrugged. “In Detroit, we did everything as per protocol when we walked into the warehouse. We secured each room before we entered the next and -” He looked at her again. “Either he messed up or he set me up.”

Melinda swallowed hard. Her mouth felt dry. “You think he set you up.” She wanted to punch something. She wanted to punch Garrett.

“Hill and I think we could use him to get to people higher up the ranks, if we could just get him to focus on something else while we investigate him.”

That sounded good. Not as good as just kicking the crap out of Garrett, but it was something to focus on.

“And then there’s Hill’s sister,” he said.

“Forever love is her show, isn’t it?”

“She received threatening letters and Hill is worried … Someone wants to kill the next couple that finds love on her show. Since both Garrett and I are injured we want to use that case as a ploy to get him away from real active duty and help out Hill’s sister as well.”

That was crazy enough that it might just work. “I’m a better agent than Kegler.”

He gave her a half smile. “I can’t ask you for that.”

“I can handle it.” She lifted her chin. She could do that. It would suck, but it would be worth it.

“We’ll be undercover for weeks, if not months and we’ll be filmed the whole time and you’d have to pretend to … You hate high heels, May.”

“If you don’t trust me as your partner anymore -”

“I trust you the most. Out of everyone I trust you the most. I just …” He shrugged again. “I don’t want to pull you into this mess.”

“You could’ve died,” she said.

He looked at her.

She could’ve lost him and the threat wasn’t eliminated yet. There was no way in hell she would allow him to go on that mission alone.

“I’m coming with you,” she said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! As always I’d love to hear from you! So please, if you have the time, leave a comment. They mean the world to me! :)


	3. First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Diane meets Eric

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for @crazymaryt, who deserves to have a fantastic Sunday. I adore you, friend!

The women so far had all been amazing, but they didn’t compare.

His heart skipped a beat when Melinda got out of the limousine, as it always did when he saw her.

It wasn’t a problem, he had learned to adjust. Tonight it was just especially hard to remind himself of their boundaries.

She looked beautiful in the short silvery sparkly wrap dress with an A-line skirt she wore. Her hair framed her face with loose curls, her lips were bright red. He silver high heels with straps around the ankle complimented the dress and her skin.

Her look was completed by a big piece of … concrete?

Yes, definitely concrete that she carried in her right hand.

She smiled at him as she walked towards him and he hid his hands behind his back, smiling too.

The shoes gave her the perfect height for him to kiss her.

God, he wanted to bury his hands in her hair and kiss her right on the mouth.

Not that he would. Well, maybe he would. Eventually, if their operation would call for it.

Which it probably wouldn’t because they would just solve the case and bust Garrett before it could come to it.

There. Problem solved. No need to panic.

He took a breath. “Hi, I’m Eric.”

“Hi, I’m Diane.” She stopped in front of him and her smile brightened. “It’s so nice to meet you,” she said.

“It’s lovely meeting you too.” He looked at her right hand. “Is that a piece of concrete?”

“Yes.”

“For me?” His eyes widened. “You shouldn’t have.” He grinned. This was them. This was Melinda. This didn’t have to be hard.

She grinned back and tilted her head. “I thought you could hold it up so I could smash it with my fingertips.”

“Really?”

“I promise you’d be totally safe but you don’t have to, if you’re scared.”

He snorted. “I’m a Navy SEAL, I fear nothing!” He reached out his hand. “Please hand me the concrete.”

She reached into a pocket on the left side of her skirt and pulled out some safety googles. “First, you need to put on these.”

Because safety first. He took them and put them on. Right after, she handed him the piece of concrete. This would be good.

“Okay, so you have to hold it out with both hands and stand still,” she said, gesturing.

He got into position. They had done this before a few times in their academy times when it had been their job to impress possible new agents with their skills. “Like this?” he asked like he was clueless.

She smiled. “Perfect.” She got in position too; wide stance, her arms held up. “Ready?”

“Ready!”

With one swift move, her hand flashed through the air and suddenly the concrete splintered in his hands.

He laughed. “That was AMAZING!” He always loved when she did stuff like that.

“Thank you!” She laughed too.

For a moment their gazes locked and he felt warm. He felt like home. Of course he had to ruin it by glancing at her lips. Damn him for wanting to kiss her.

She nibbled at her bottom lip. “I see you inside,” she said and flashed him another smile. As she walked past him, she ran her hand over his arm, sending a shiver down his spine.

This could go terribly wrong.

o0o

She appreciated the fakeness of everything. The careful lighting, the pot of flowers that was precisely placed behind her to give some interest to the shot, other than the close up of her face. Even the make up artist that powdered her face and fixed her lipstick, before Javier nodded at the camera man from the off to start filming.

It was a good reminder of what this was all about.

This was just a mission. And though Phil might act like he was falling for her, it was just part of the job. This wasn’t real.

But that look in his eyes after she had smashed the concrete … He made her feel like she was the only woman in the world.

“Now that you have meet him face to face, what is your impression of Eric?” Javier asked. He kneeled beneath a camera placed on a stand while she sat on a wooden bench decorated with soft pillows in pastel colors.

“He’s sweet,” she said and smiled, trying to look smitten. “Funny.”

“Could you elaborate on that?”

“He’s just …” She looked into the distance and sighed before she focused back on the camera. “He just seems so open and welcoming and warm. I’m not very good at meeting new people but with him … it felt like greeting an old friend.”

“Do you think you could be more than friends?”

“I hope so! He’s really …” She licked her lips. “He’s so handsome.” God, he really was …

“Thank you, that was great!” Javier said and stood up. “You’re doing fantastic, Diane. Your stunt really impressed Eric!”

“You think so?” She rose from the bench.

“He’s in awe of you. As he should be because you’re stunning!” He walked up to her and frowned. “So why are you keeping to the back?”

Her eyes widened. “I’m not …” She had been busy observing the other women while at the same time trying to keep an eye on the film crew.

“You should go talk to him again.”

One of the women, Jessica, a photographer from Miami, was on her fifth glass of champagne and she kept mumbling about Eric’s strong hands. One of the camera men, a tall guy with blonde curls and a beard, kept pressing his lips together and frowning. Maybe that was just what he looked like when he was focusing. But maybe it was contempt. She had been busy!

“Diane, do you want to be here?” Javier placed his hands on her arms. “Do you want to get to know him?”

“Yes, of course!” She hated being touched by strangers, especially when they so obviously tried to manipulate her.

“Then go, make your move!” Javier smiled and rubbed her arms. “You deserve your shot with him.”

Yep, she really didn’t like that guy.

Instead of kneeing him in the crotch, she smiled daintily. “Can you point me in his direction?”

o0o

Ten minutes later she walked around a hedged corner of the beautiful garden. The greenery alone was breath taking. Lots of rosebushes in different colors combined with simple greens and bouquets of freshly cut flowers. But the lighting really brought the atmosphere to another level. Everything was decorated with tiny fairy lights that mimicked the stars above them. It felt like a Disney movie. A bit cliché and over the top but charming. And of course totally and utterly fake.

At least the sanded beneath her was hard enough to comfortably walk on.

She really wanted to kick off those damn heels!

“I don’t play any instruments but I can bust quite a move,” she heard Phil say. His voice came from a near by niche. She could already see the entrance to it between the hedges. The camera woman, red haired  with broad shoulders, gave his position away too. She pointed her camera directly at the entrance.

“Oh really?” a female voice asked.

“Not to brag, but I do it all; the mash potato, the twist, and all the others, too.”

The woman laughed. “You must show me sometime.”

Melinda was surprised he wasn’t going through the motions while talking. He loved to  show up his mash potato twist whenever he got a chance. Back at the academy he had done a little dance whenever he could beat her at poker. So maybe once a year. Melinda grinned as she came up to the entrance.

“I don’t think you’re ready for that jelly yet,” Phil said. Now she could see him grin sheepishly.

Such a dork!

He and a beautiful woman sat next to each other on a wooden bench. Of course they were surrounded by roses and fairy lights. Her name was Audrey, if Melinda remembered correctly. The Cellist from Portland.

She laughed. That woman was definitely smitten.

Phil noticed her first. “Oh, hi!”

The camera woman walked back to catch her in the frame too.

“Hi!” Audrey smiled at her but it wasn’t as sincere as the smile she had given Phil.

“Hi,” Melinda said and walked into the niche. She smiled at Phil. “May I steal you away?”

“Of course, yes.” Phil stood up. “I see you later,” he said to Audrey.

Now her smile was radiant again. “Looking forward to it.”

Melinda reached out her hand. Because that was something contestants on this sort of show did. “Would you like to take a walk?”

He took her hand and squeezed it. “Love to.”

For a minute they just walked, holding hands and breathing. This was lovely.

“Could you stop?” the camera woman asked. “It’s hard to get a decent shot of you when you keep moving.”

So they stopped next to a big fountain made of marble. Its edge was broad enough to sit on.

“It’s beautiful here,” Phil said.

The camera woman got in position in front of them. “Perfect,” she mumbled.

Melinda smiled at Phil. “It really is.”

“How did long did it take you to learn that trick? I’ve always wanted to ask.”

She raised a brow. “Always?”

“The question has been torturing me for,” he lifted his left hand to look at his wrist watch, “two and a half hours now.”

She snorted. Nice safe! “Four years,” she said.

“Think you could teach me?”

“If you’re willing to stick with me for four years?”

“I could manage that,” Phil said. No, Eric said. This was Eric talking.

This was their cover. The honey warm tone in his voice didn’t mean anything. This wouldn’t change anything between them. She was just here to have his back and to eventually kick Garrett’s ass, that was all.

“Did your training help you in the military?” Phil asked.

She squinted at him. Usually he was way better at keeping information straight in his head. She hadn’t told him about the military backstory yet. Not officially.

“You just have that strength about you and I took a wild guess.” Phil smiled and pulled up his shoulders. “Either I’m right and you’ll think I’m observant or I’m wrong and you give me … this look.”

“I was in the army,” she said. “Well, I still am. I work in accounting now.”

Diane had a dark past, too. Maggie had insisted on it. It would make for good TV, she said.

Melinda pressed her lips together and looked down. A desk job was useful. She had been doing useful work. And she hadn’t hurt anybody.

Phil squeezed her hand. “Diane?”

“There you guys are!”  a woman called behind them. It was Katherine, the dentist.

“Hi!” Phil said.

“Hi.” Melinda let go of his hand.

“Could I have a moment of your time?” Katherine asked.

“Uhm …” Phil looked back at Melinda. She hated that worried look in his eyes. How should he be able to trust her fully if he couldn’t trust her to fall apart on the job?

She brushed her hand over his forearm and smiled. “Talk to you later.” For now she would return to observe the other women.

o0o

Again, Phil and Peter stood in front of the mansion.

“How are you doing, Eric?” Peter asked.

“It’s … It’s overwhelming. All these stunning women …” Phil took a breath. The last few hours had been crazy! One after another, the women had taken him aside just to catch a moment with him. He hadn’t thought that it would be this intense! All of them genuinely seemed interested in him and all of them were just … just stunning. Smart and beautiful and sweet. “I can’t believe they came here to meet me!”

“They really are all fantastic,” Peter said and nodded. “You got the chance to get impressions of all of these amazing women and the first impression rose is now on the table. I know it’s hard, but just trust your gut when you give the rose to the one who impressed you the most!”

What a helpful platitude! Phil smiled brightly and shook Peter’s hand. “Thank you, Peter.”

He had no idea why Peter wouldn’t just give the rose to him, but no, instead the rose had been placed in the foyer of the mansion, where most of the women hung out on deluxe sofas.

When he walked into the room, it came to him. Every eye was on him as soon as he picked up the rose. It was like every woman just held her breath. He swallowed hard and walked towards Melinda.

She sat at the right corner of a sofa, next to a black haired beauty of indian ascent. Her name was Anisa. No priors, though her three black belts in would make it easy for her to do some real damage. She worked as a personal trainer in LA, mostly with actors preparing for action movies.

Anisa smiled and straightened up as he stopped in front of them. But he kept focus on Melinda.

“Diane?” he asked. Suddenly his throat felt rough. There was no need to be nervous. She wouldn’t reject him. Not today.  “Would you like to …”

She stood up and smiled brightly.

“… take another walk?” he finished his question and smiled. He felt his shoulders relaxes he offered her his arm.

Under the eyes of every other woman, he lead her outside and back to a more private area of the garden – as private as an area can be when a camera woman follows you.

They stopped in front of each other and Melinda glided her hand down his arm. To his surprise, she wrapped her fingers around his palm.

He held up the rose. “I never met anyone like you and I just …” He was so damn much in love with her. “I want you to have this rose because I’d love to get to know you better. Do you accept?”

Smiling, she took the rose and squeezed his other hand. She looked at him as she smelled the rose. Her eyes were beautiful!

He swallowed hard. What he wouldn’t give to kiss her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your support so far! I couldn’t get through the story without you guys! Please don’t forget to comment, like and reblog, if you can. It really helps me out!


	4. First Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eric goes on his first date

The room smelled amazing, like waffles and bacon and freshly brewed coffee. Though Melinda despised the taste of it, she always had liked the scent of it. Coffee, that was. There was nothing she disliked about waffles or bacon. Those things were perfect in her eyes!

Hailey, the caterer and her team had set up a great breakfast buffet right in the middle of the big dining room of the mansion. They had everything, waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausages eggs, toast and fresh fruit. But best of all, they even had decent tea! A water boiler stood on a small side table, next to it were little containers with loose leaf teas. Milk and different sorts of sugars were available too. They even had thin slices of lemon and those fancy small metal lemon presses!

The white linen on the buffet tables matched the ones on the dinner tables perfectly. The white walls and the big windows kept the room light and airy while the dark wooden furniture grounded it. The colorful abstract art gave the room a modern freshness.

All in all it was a wonderful environment for breakfast.

She fixed herself a plate and brewed a cup of Assam tea with just a splash of milk before she carried everything over to one of the tables.

The room was mostly empty; it was half past seven and most of the women were still in bed. So far it was just her and the catering people. None of them posed a threat as far as their research had shown. No priors, no weird backstories connected to the show, nothing. And Hailey and her two co-workers were really friendly.

Yesterday had been a long night, five women had already left without even unpacking their bags. Of course Melinda had been up since five. Two hours of sleep weren’t much, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She always woke up at five. And like always, she got up straight away, went to the gym and went to her routine of kickboxing and Tai Chi before she took a shower. She dressed in jeans and a loose comfortable knitted dark green sweater.

Now she was hungry.

She hadn’t even bitten in her first piece of bacon, when Grace sat down on the chair right next to her. The hairstylist was already perfectly styled; her hair fell down in loose curls and her eyeliner was perfect. She wore jeans and a fitted blue shirt with lace details around the neckline.

“Morning,” she said and smiled a perfect white smile.

Melinda chewed and swallowed before she smiled back. “Morning.”

“Oh my God.” Grace closed her eyes as she chewed on her first piece of bacon. Melinda could relate to that.

She grinned and kept eating.

Grace forked up a piece of waffle with syrup and strawberries and sighed happily. “Eric is amazing but if he decides I’m not the one for him, this breakfast alone was all worth it.”

“You think he’ll send you home?”

She shrugged. “He’s gonna keep you around, that’s for sure. I saw how he looked at you when he asked you to come with him for the first impression rose.”

Yeah, because that was part of the narrative they had decided on with Maggie beforehand to establish their love story.

“You doubt that?” Grace asked. “You’re stunning. You’re beautiful and smart and I’m just … me.”

God, the self doubt in her voice … Knowing that Grace would indeed go home without Eric’s love, broke her heart. They were dealing with real people here. And some of them would get hurt, because that’s what lying does. It hurts people, especially in the long run. Which was why she hated undercover work.

“I think you’re amazing,” Melinda said.

Grace smiled. “Thank you.”

“Good morning!”  Lorelei, the red haired physicist said as she entered the room. The rest of the women followed her. Some were dressed, some were still in their pajamas.

They all wished each other a good morning.

Someone from production probably woke all of them, which meant something was about to happen. Melinda had been wondering when the cameras would be back in her face. - Not that she had been missing them.

“Did the letter arrive yet?” Anisa, the personal trainer asked.

“You mean the first date card?” Grace shook her head. “Not yet.”

Katherine, the dentist sat down at their table too, holding just a cup of coffee. “Who do you think will be on it?”

“I think the first card is gonna be a group date invitation,” Anisa said.

Grace straightened up. “What if it’s a one on one? Who do you think he’ll take on that?”

“There are two this week, right?” Audrey asked and joined them. She had only waffles and strawberries on her plate.

“There are two every week,” Katherine said.

Grace raised a brow. “Someone read up on the rules! No need to be snappy.”

“I’m sorry, I just …” Katherine sighed. “I need a coffee.”

“You need a waffle,” Grace said and smiled. “They’re amazing.”

Shia, a wine seller with beautiful black skin and short black hair looked at them over her shoulder while she put scrambled eggs on her plate. “I think Diane will get a one on one, would make sense.”

“I could really need one.” Kristen, a teacher from Indiana with blonde hair and warm brown eyes sighed. “I didn’t have much time with him yet.”

“Yeah, me too.” Grace nodded. “He just seems so … so amazing. Like a dream. A war hero who’s also sensitive and sweet.”

Katherine looked at Melinda. “You got to talk to him more, how is he?”

“All those things.” And more. Melinda took a sip of her tea while the other women stared at her.

“He’s great,” Melinda said. Though, truth be told, Eric couldn’t hold a candle to the real Phil.

“Someone’s smitten!” Katherine said.

Melinda felt herself blush. Damn, this was stupid!

“I’m smitten, too. Aren’t you?” Lorelei asked and joined them.

“He’s sexy.” Shia said. “God, he’s really sexy …”

Kristin grinned. “Yeah, that doesn’t hurt either.”

Then Peter and two camera people walked in, one of them was the woman that had followed her and Phil around yesterday.

“Good morning, ladies!” Peter said and stepped into the middle of the room.

“Peter!”

He looked dashing in dark jeans and a simple white button up.

The camera people quickly set up. One focused on Peter, the other stayed at the doorway, probably to get the best shot of the whole room.

Peter waved a white envelope and smiled brightly. “I’m bringing you a little something!”

“The card!”

“Is it a one on one?”

“Is it a group date?”

Peter kept smiling. “Why don’t you look and see?”

Anisa was the one who reached Peter first. She took the card from him and clutched it to her chest.“Oh my god, my heart’s racing!” She took a breath and opened it. “Diane, Audrey, Shia, Phoebe, Kirsten, Grace, Renee, Elizabeth and Anisa, life is a rollercoaster; come and join me – Eric,” she read.

So no one on one for Diane. Melinda shouldn’t feel disappointed.

  
  


o0o

  
  


“Were you disappointed that you had to go on a group date?” Javier asked, standing next to the camera. They had set up the camera in front of a rollercoaster at the amusement park Eric had taken them to.

Melinda tilted her head and put on her best Diane smile. “Of course I would’ve loved a one on one with Eric, but this …” She shrugged. “I’m just glad to spent time with him at all. He’s a great guy.”

“Why don’t you tell us about today?”

“Driving auto scooter with him was just so fun!” Melinda said and tried to look dreamy. “He picked me to be on his team and it’s such a great team to be on.”

That much was true. He was a great partner. The very best. It was way too easy to play Diane falling in love with Eric. She shouldn’t feel jealous that though he had spent those five minutes in the auto scooter with her, he had spent more time with most of the other women. He had taken Shia for ice cream, he had shot at flowers with Phoebe and now he was on a Ferris wheel with Audrey …

“The group date rose went to Audrey, how do you feel about that?” Javier asked.

“She is a great person.”

Javier titled his head and raised a brow.

“I think Eric tries really hard to be fair with all of us. Audrey is lovely.” Phil gave her the rose and had taken her away to the Ferris wheel …Melinda had no reason to be jealous. She had no reason to feel small.

“You know you don’t have to be so polite all the time, right? It’s okay if you’re upset.”

Yeah, what Javier wanted was drama and tears. Melinda got that it was part of his job to deliver that, but she hated it nonetheless.

She sighed dramatically. “The whole situation is just so weird. We all want his attention and … He’s a great guy, I look forward to getting to know him better.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


He would have to send more women home tonight.

It was already getting late and he was again surrounded by beautiful women in cocktail dresses that fought for his attention. For Eric’s attention.

It had surprised him how seriously all of them were taking this. He had been on a single date with Lorelei yesterday and she had been so sweet and shy, talking about how it was hard to her to open up to people …

A week of first dates had passed and he knew what he would do. One of the ladies had little kids. How could he string her along for this? He wished he could just propose to Melinda immediately and get this all over with.

Nope. Propose to Diane. Not to Melinda. Eric must fall in love with Diane. That was the game, and that was all it was. A cover to get what they really wanted, which was Garrett’s racist evil connections on a silver platter and that stalker.

That was the reason they were here. That was the reason he was standing in this beautiful garden, holding Melinda’s hand.

She wore a classic little black dress tonight, that complimented her legs. Her hair was pinned up and exposed her long neck.

God, he wanted to kiss that neck!

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to spent much time together today,” he said and squeezed Melinda’s hand. He was pretty sure the camera woman zoomed into that moment.

Melinda smiled and squeezed his hand back. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“I just … This is all a bit crazy.”  He tilted his head. “Everybody just keeps pulling at me and I -” He stopped himself. Complaining about having to spent time with wonderful people; very charming! “It’s really good to see you now.”

“It’s good to see you, too.”

“This just feels so very different from real life.”

She raised a brow. “You mean you usually don’t spent your Thursdays at an amusement park?”

“Nah, that’s usually Wednesdays.” He smiled. “So I know what you do for work. What else are you up to.”

He expected her to tell him about how much she loved sports, but instead she nibbled at her lower lip, looking a bit ashamed.

“Workaholic?” he asked. “Yeah, me too. There’s just something about my job, about protecting people and keeping them safe …”

Now she pressed her lips together. Was that Melinda or Diane? What was wrong?

He squeezed her hand. “Do you miss it?” Maybe this was too much for her. Maybe they should just stop. She hadn’t been in the field for almost two years and this was a lot! Of course she was stressed!

“Since the six days I’ve been here?” she asked and snorted. “That wouldn’t be a good sign.”

He grinned. “Yeah, probably not.” That was much better.

Melinda raised her chin. “I don’t miss it,” she said. “Not one bit.”

“That’s good to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my GOD that chapter took forever to figure out! I had like six different plot plans of this until I could finally figure out what scenes I needed! I hope you enjoyed this! Please, if you have the time, leave me a comment! They help me survive this story. :)


	5. Taking a Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eric and Diane take a walk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this took so long. Life was crazy! On top of it all, the story itself demanded to be replotted – as stories do. *sigh*. But I figured things out and here we are! Thank you all for your support and patience! I hope you enjoy. :)

Melinda bit her lower lip as she grabbed the secret cell she had hidden underneath the sink in Diane’s bathroom. In two hours Eric would take Diane on another group date, before that, she wanted some updates.

It was still early, not even seven p.m. After her early morning routine she had taken a shower and had slipped into a blue wrap dress. She would wait to put on heels until she really had too. After the phone call, she’d still have to put on some make up and figure out her hair.

She brushed a strand of wet hair behind her ear as she hit the speed dial for Hill. The only number on that thing. She wished she’d have a line to Phil too, just to check in with him about Diane and Eric. But it was simply too risky. Just one crew member needed to catch them talk on the phone with each other. Not to mention that someone might hear it if one of their two cells would receive a call. They had agreed before to just use them to make calls to the outside.

The phone rang.

Hopefully Hill would have good news.

Finally, Hill picked up, “May?”

“Anything new?”

Hill sighed. “Broke into his apartment and searched it. Only weird thing was a postcard of a big octopus from the New York Aquarium. It was stamped here in New York, no note on the back, just Dickface’s address. Not sure what it means yet. I also found a private laptop. I have an outside source breaking into that one.”

Melinda pulled her brows together. “What outside source?”

“Calls herself Skye. She is one of those Rising Tide hacktivists. Almost found one of our servers once. Mistrusts the government. Thinks we’re hiding things from the public.” There was a smile in Hill’s voice. She was definitely impressed. Melinda didn’t have much to do with SHIELD’s online protection but she knew that all their servers were deeply hidden in the dark net.

“So you have a weird postcard and a paranoid hacktivist working on a laptop that might or might not hold information.”

“It definitely holds something. And I seriously doubt Dickface’s the type of guy who protects his porn with four layers of protective code. Skye was very impressed with it. Asked all sorts of annoying questions.”

Figures. “What did you tell her?”

“That I stole it from a secret agent.” There was that smile in Hill’s voice again. “She’s smart. I might make her a job offer once this is over.”

“Has she found anything yet?”

“She cracked two of the four layers without blowing up the laptop.”

“So no.”

Silence.

Melinda sighed heavily. “I could speed things up.”

“No punching him yet, May!”

“I really want to hurt him.” That bastard. That dickface!

“Same here.” Hill took a breath. “How are things on your end?” she asked.

“Nobody sticks out yet. Javier, the assistant producer responsible for Diane, is a slime ball, but I don’t think he is the stalker. Dickface is still doing background work.” That stinking worm. Dickface really suited him! But he wasn’t the only reason they were here … “Maggie is busy producing us all, especially Phil,” she added. “She’s very impressive.” She really was! “She’s doing ok, Hill. She’s handling things.”

That was as much reassurance as she could offer.

Hill exhaled. “Thank you.”

Of course. Everyone worried about their loved ones, right? And it was hard enough when you got to be close enough to actually protect them. Having to be away from her sister must be hard on Hill.

“I better go,” Melinda said. It was best to keep those calls as brief as possible.

“Call me when you can.”

“Will do!”

“And …”

… Look out for Maggie? “Will do that too.”  
  


o0o

 

His face hurt from smiling too much. His head hurt too. Third week and he just wrapped up his second group date; half a day of having to split his time between five beautiful and amazing women, knowing fully well that the best he had to offer them all was lies.

And the one he was being truthful with better never believed him or he might lose her.

God, this was a mess!

It smelled like paint. For this shoot, Maggie had seated him on a stool next to a cleverly placed easel with a blank canvas on it.

Almost five hours ago he and seven of the women had arrived at this art school for this week’s group date. Of course Maggie and parts of the film crew had followed them.

It had been a long day, not that he was allowed to show it. He straightened his back and smiled at Maggie who kneeled next to the camera. The camera woman who had captured his moments with Melinda in the garden that first day stood behind it. Her name was Rebecca, as Garrett had found out. And she was new. No priors, nothing weird in her social media. But still. She was new.

“Now that we in our third week, how do you feel?” Maggie asked. “Do you still believe you’ll find your bride with us?”

“More convinced than ever!” Phil smiled brightly. “The women …” He shook his head in happy disbelief. “They’re all just breath taking.”

“You really had a moment there with Diane. Tell me what you two did.”

“Diane and I painted a painting together. Splashing paint around was really fun! I haven’t done this since school, I think. She really has a great eye for color.” The painting still turned out ugly, but the light yellow and green tones on the dark blue ground had looked like flowers by night. Or something else made of splashes of paint. One drop of paint had hit Melinda’s left jawline. He had wiped it away and she had laughed …

“Could you see yourself falling in love with her?” Maggie asked.

“Yes.” He already was. He fell in love with her every day, ever since they met. How pathetic was that? But Eric would get a happy end so Phil kept his hopeful smile planted on his face. “I could easily see myself fall in love with Diane.” He looked straight at Maggie. “I could see myself marrying her.”

Maggie tilted her head. “But you gave the group date rose to Anisa.”

“Anisa is a stunning woman!” Phil said.

The camera shook.

He and Maggie both looked at Rebecca, who shrugged. “Sorry, I had to sneeze.”

Maggie raised a brow. “Next time just step away from the camera.”

Rebecca pressed her lips together and nodded before she vanished behind the camera again.

Maggie focused back on Phil; “You were telling us about Anisa, Eric.”

“Anisa and I experimented with paints and mixed different colors,” he said and went back to that happy smile that hurt his cheeks. “We talked about sports. We both love Brazilian Jiu-Jitzu. Maybe we’ll find time to go a few rounds someday.”  
  


o0o

 

Six more hours and he would get to send away another woman. This time it would be Abigail Hopper, a lawyer from Detroit. She had an eight year old daughter at home. Divorced for three years. Last thing she needed was to fall in love with an illusion. Last thing anyone of those woman needed was to fall in love with Eric.

The background checks had helped him make his decisions so far. The most vulnerable ones first. The one with the dead husband. The one who had just lost her mother to cancer, the one with the two year old baby at home.

His rejection had hurt them, he had seen it on their faces whenever he said goodbye, but this was the best he could do.

And tonight he would send Abigail home to her child.

But first he had to make a call. He had maybe ten minutes before he would have to leave his room and step underneath the camera lights again.

His fist clenched as soon as Garrett picked up.

“Kissed anyone yet?” his partner asked.

What a jerk. “We’re in week three.”

“Exactly!”

God, he wanted to punch him! Some of the women had given him clear signals, Phoebe, a pilot with a love for candy had even tried to kiss him on their one on one date yesterday, but he had told her that he’d rather take it slow.

“Coulson, you know it’s okay to have fun like once every two years, right?”

Yeah, because deceiving people was such a blast!

“Does your arm still hurt?” Now Garrett’s voice was softer. Filled with worry.

Phil just wanted to punch him harder. “It’s not that.”

“It’s about May isn’t it?” Garrett asked. “You worry about her?”

He hated how good Garrett knew him. “I worry about all the women. I hate lying.”

“Of course you do.” Garrett sighed. “I’m a jerk sometimes, I’m sorry partner. I’m just so bored.”

“It’s okay.” Phil gave his best to sound placable. “Found anything new about our stalker?”

“Nope. The Forever Love team takes their vetting seriously. Their research is almost as good as ours! Couldn’t find anything new and interesting about any of the contestants.”

“Anything about the crew?”

“i still have to check through some people’s finances but nothing yet.”

Phil waited.

“Think you’ll be okay to go through this to the end?”

“That’s the job.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Garrett could be such a good friend … Phil pressed his lips together. Damn him for that especially. “May and I will be fine,” he said. “But the other women … They don’t know this is all fake. This will hurt them.”

“Sometimes we just have to lie for the greater good, right?”

“Right.”Stopping Nazis and catching a stalker were good reasons, right?

Someone knocked against Phil’s door.

“I have to go,” he said and hung up. The shorter the phone calls with Garrett, the better. Bless whomever stood in front of his door.

While he put the cell back into its hiding place beneath a loose board underneath the bed, it knocked again. Louder this time.

“Coming,” he called. Not five seconds later he opened the door. “Maggie?”

She wore dark jeans and a black, loose fitted, silky blouse. “Fifteen more minutes before we start,” she said. “May I come in?”

He nodded and opened the door wider.

She closed the door behind herself and looked at him. “We do good here, you know?”

“Excuse me?”

“This show. It’s not just a circus.” She snorted. “Believe me, I know it’s a circus! But it’s so much more. We help people to connect. We help people find love. We could help you too.”

Oh my God, was she seriously trying to play him? “ _Excuse_ _me_?”

“Just because the story for the show has to be set, yours doesn’t have to. You have real chemistry with those women, Phil.”

Yes, she definitely tried to play him. He grinned. “You’re really good!”

She raised a brow.

He chuckled and shook his head. “Producing is definitely the right job for you. I always thought Hill was good at manipulating people but you … You’re almost on Nat’s level.”

“Of course I’m doing my job,” she said and tilted her head. “Doesn’t mean I’m lying.”

“Every day, whenever I talk to those women, I lie. How is that a base for a relationship?”

“Nobody can lie all the time. Yes, they don’t have all the facts, but I’ve seen you with them. You give them as much truth and dignity as possible.” She sighed and patted his arm. Like he hadn’t seen that move before.

“I’m not guaranteeing you’ll find love,” she added. “I just want you to consider that you might.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


Again, it was Rebecca who followed them with a camera when Melinda led Phil into the garden for some privacy two hours later.

After the women had pulled at him to get a few moments with him alone, he was glad that it was now just him and Melinda. Well, and Rebecca.

But Rebecca and her camera were the only reason Melinda was holding his hand right now, so he happily accepted their company.

Melinda squeezed his hand and his heart skipped a beat. The way she looked at him made him catch his breath. As selfish and as self destructive as it might be, he longed to kiss her. If this mission would last long enough, Eric would get to kiss Diane … But they weren’t there yet.

For now, Melinda pulled up her shoulders slightly. She had beautiful shoulders. The green, fitted cocktail dress she wore tonight left her shoulders exposed. A thin necklace with a little diamond accented her collar bones and thanks to the black heels she wore, she was almost as tall as him.

“I’m in this for you,” she said and swallowed. “I mean I …” She shrugged.

Just for once he wanted her to look at him like that in real life. Like he had something she wanted. Like he _was_ somebody she wanted. All he could do now was to stare back at her.

“I know I’m sometimes distanced and that I can be standoffish and cold but I’m here because of you.” She squeezed his hand again. “I’m here because I want to get to know you.”

Damn, he wanted to kiss her. “You’re not cold,” he said.

Her eyes widened.

Now he squeezed her hand. “And you’re not standoffish. You’re a badass. And I can wait for you to lose distance.” His heart was racing. “You’re worth every wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please if you have the time, I’d love to hear from you! Your comments, reblogs and likes mean so much to me!


	6. Boundaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Maggie gets more chemistry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I’m sorry this update took two weeks. Life’s still crazy and I don’t see it calm down soon, but i hope to get you the next update a bit quicker. But for now I hope you enjoy this! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT! You guys are just AMAZING!

Another week, another group date for Diane…

“ _Loyalty and friendship are at the base of every great love, it’ll be my pleasure to introduce you to some creatures who have mastered these qualities - Eric_ ”

The invitation card had arrived this afternoon while Phil was on a date with Meredith, a graphic designer from Florida. When Meredith returned, she was all rosy cheeked and smily. She couldn’t stop talking about how perfect Eric was and how she could really see herself spending a life time with him.

Which was exactly why Melinda hated undercover missions. Innocent people always got hurt, were always left feeling betrayed and foolish. And they had to fool not only those people but the whole tv watching nation of America too.

In forty minutes Phil would pick her up for group date with Katherine, Audrey, Anisa, Shia and Kristin. At breakfast this morning they already had discussed outfit options at length.

Melinda had opted for some tight jeans and a loose red blouse that showed some cleavage. The look would be completed by red lipstick and nude high heels. The shoes already stood next to her bed and Melinda glared at them before she went into her bathroom. She had just enough time to make a call to Hill.

She retrieved the cell phone from it’s hiding place and dialed. Not five seconds later, Hill answered the call with a sharp “Yes?”

“It’s me.”

“Perfect timing!” Hill said, “I couldn’t get anything from the card and Skye hasn’t cracked the laptop yet, so I went back to Dickface’s apartment. I found a key hidden between his porn.”

Hill sighed.

Melinda could practically see her shake her head.

“I really should’ve gone through them last time,” Hill said. “But who hides keys in their hidden porn?”

“You expect me to answer that?”

Hill sighed again. “It’s a key for a safe deposit box. I’m working on finding the bank it belongs to.”

“That’s something.”

“I have high hopes to punch Dickface in the nuts soon.”

That was the optimism Melinda was looking for. “Anything else?”

“No.”

“Then I better go.” It was always a risk to talk on the phone. Best case scenario, one of the other women would hear her and doubt her mental state, worst case, they’d find out she had a cell.

“Need to get ready for a hot date, ugh?”

“Bye, Hill.”

“But May …”

“Maggie is still fine. Worried but strong. We keep an eye on her.”

“Thank you.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


Twenty minutes until he’d have to try his very best to please six different ladies on one date whilst also trying to not make anybody fall in love with him whilst on a tv show that wanted to watch him fall in love.

He already wore his date outfit, jeans and a crisp white shirt that he’d pair with a brown leather jacket. So far Maggie hadn’t urged him to change into something else. But then again, she had knocked on his door just three minutes prior, so he couldn’t be sure yet. Yesterday for his date with Meredith

He longed for days where he and May just had been in imminent danger to lose their lives.

But this was his assignment and as ridiculous as the setup might seem, the reasons behind it were as serious as ever.

He read the letter Maggie had given him again, “ _Despite my warnings you went forward with this fraud. Stop it now or Eric and his false new love will die._ ”

Same paper, same font as the others. This was the first one Maggie had gotten since they became involved with the case. And it was the first one that featured Eric by name. Unfortunately that wasn’t a real clue, it might just mean that whoever had sent the letter followed Forever Love on TV.

Ads for the new season were airing for two weeks now.

“Same old, same old …” Maggie said and crossed her arms.

“Maggie, this is serious.”

She snorted. “That’s the only reason I allowed my show to become an actual fraud.”

“We can still get you -”

“I don’t need a bodyguard. I’m not the one they’re threatening.”

“But they’re angry at you,” Phil said. They’ve had this talk like … twenty times now? And this letter made him even more concerned. “They’re writing to you,” he added. “This is personal for them and they might want to escalate. They might want to hurt you.”

She swallowed and stared at him.

“I’m not saying that just to scare you, I’m saying it because it’s a possibility.”

“I’m not scared.”

Liar. He tilted his head. “You’re not that foolish.”

“Fine, I’m a little scared.” She shrugged. “Mostly I’m just worried. Do you know how easily shows are cancelled these days? Do you know how many jobs depend on that show?”

Now she definitely sounded like her sister.

“We’re here to help,” he said.

“Know what would help me?” She raised a brow. He had seen that look on hill before. It meant nothing good for him. “Start paying attention to Diane. We’re trying to tell a love story here.”

Yeah no, he wouldn’t allow her to switch topic so easily. “Just one call and a bodyguard for you would be here within the hour, no problem.”

“Just give me my love story and don’t get shot.”

“Once was enough and don’t worry; Agent May and I will give you a show.”

“Remember these words because when this goes to the finale weeks.” She grinned. “I’m gonna need kisses with tongue.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


The loyal creature who had mastered friendship were dogs. At least to this part Phil had looked forward to. Together they went to a shelter to promote it and to hopefully get some of those cute critters adopted. A lovely side affect was that with the adorable dogs around, not all the women’s attention was constantly on him.

Now he and Melinda took two of the dogs for a walk in a close by park. Phil handled a black, old Labrador named Hades whilst Melinda handled tall, a white and grey great dane named Betty, who kept trying to lick her hand as they walked.

Maggie, Rebecca and her camera walked in front of them. Phil ignored them as told and smiled at Melinda. “Betty likes you.”

“I like her too.” Melinda petted the dog’s head.

Hades tried to pull Phil over to a garbage can and Phil had to shorten the leash. “Wold you ever get a dog?” Suddenly old Hades made a jump just to get to an old piece of hot dog on the ground and Phil almost tripped.

Melinda grinned. “I’m more of a goldfish person.”

“Commitment issues?”

“Only when it comes to animals.”

“Have been hurt by them before?” He looked at her over his shoulder while he pulled Hades away from the gross piece of meat.

“No!” he told the dog. Hades gave him a heartbreaking look. Mentally cursing himself for being such a softie, Phil reached into his pocket and gave Hades a tiny treat.

Melinda stopped next to him. Betty sat down and leaned her head against Melinda’s upper leg. “My ex husband always wanted a dog but I never had that desire.” Melinda said and smiled as she scratched Betty’s head.

“You were married?” he asked - Eric asked. Phil already knew the answer. Hades sniffed at Phil’s hand and Phil rubbed his ear, which he seemed to enjoy almost as much as the treat.

Melinda nodded. “For four years.” Just as long as she had been married to Andrew. They had decided to stay as close to their real lives as possible. The more truth a lie had, the easier it was to uphold.

“What happened?” he asked. Hades lay down right on Phil’s feet.

She pulled up her shoulders and focused on petting Betty. “We weren’t a good idea from the start. He always saw me as someone as someone I eventually proved I could never be.”

Phil frowned at her. Was this Melinda talking or Diane? They had never talked about her divorce. They hadn’t talked much at all after Bahrain … And her private life had been off limits ever she had married Andrew. “I think you’re fantastic,” he said quietly. “I never met anybody like you.”

She smiled at him. “Let’s hope that the thrill of the new won’t wear off.”

“I don’t think it will.” It hadn’t in the decade he knew her. Not only did she still manage to surprise him, just getting to know her more made him fall deeper for her. “I can’t imagine it will.” Like he had told her last time, she was worth every wait. Not that he could ever tell her that as himself. She had set boundaries he couldn’t cross. “Any other serious relationship?”

She raised a brow. Betty lay down next to her. “One failed marriage isn’t enough for you?”

“I’m too noisy, aren’t I?” He snorted and shrugged. “Sorry, sometimes my interrogation training gets the better of me.”

“Have you ever been married?”

“No.”

“Ever been close?”

“No.” Maybe if things between Andrew and Melinda hadn’t worked out … but thoughts like that were fruitless. They had boundaries. They were partners. And he was just grateful she was here with him now.

“Commitment issues?” she asked.

“Just didn’t find the right one.”

She gave him the gentlest smile. “How about now?”

Damn his heart for skipping a beat. But other than that, this was exactly the set up he had been hoping for. “Could you wait one sec?” he asked her.

She frowned, but nodded. He handed her Hades’ leash. After he carefully retrieved his feet from between a now snoring Labrador, he walked towards the camera to get the rose Maggie had in a special flower case.

When he turned and brought the rose back to Melinda, she gasped in surprise and her cheeks flushed. Her eyes lid up.

“Diane, you amaze me,” he said and positioned himself in front of her so that Rebecca would get a good shot of the both of them. “I never met someone like you.” He smiled shyly. “I know I already said that but it’s true. Will you accept this rose and allow me to get to know you more?”

“Yes.” She beamed at him as she took the rose. Their fingers touched and he smiled right back.

  
  


o0o

  
  


Maggie got in the car with him when they left the shelter. Squinting at him, she fastened her seat belt. “You’re in love with her,” she said.

“Told you we’ll give you a show.”

“No, I mean you’re in love with your partner.”

He mentally want through all his eleven tells and tried to suppress all of them as he looked at Maggie. Thanks to years of training he managed to control his face and just raised a brow.

Still, Maggie kept squinting at him. “It was all over your face when you gave her that group date rose,” she said. “And I think she’s in love with you too, how about that?”

What was he supposed to say to that? Melinda had always been a gifted actress.

Maggie tilted her head. “Question is, what are you afraid of.”

He smiled at her. “If we even have you fooled, your show is in safe hands.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Please, if you have the time to comment, I ALWAYS love to read from you!


	7. Worthy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eric takes Audrey on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your support! I’m so glad i can finally update again! This chapter put up some fight … Well, that’s not true. Silly insecurities of mine put up a fight … I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Phil despised how much fun he had today. Audrey was such a wonderful woman, she deserved better than to be lied to like this.

And damn him for taking pleasure in this deception! But he couldn’t help it; the way she had grabbed his hand before they jumped out of the helicopter this morning, and then her joyful scream as they flew through the air after their parachute opened; she just was adorable. And sexy. And smart. They liked the same music. They liked the same books. So much they had found out as they had shared a five course meal.

They sat at the best table in a noble restaurant placed at the top level of the highest sky scraper of this city.

“It’s beautiful here,” Phil said and spun the heel of his wine glass in his fingers. After they had been busy eating, now that the white mousse au chocolat with raspberries and pistachios was gone, he could finally enjoy the view.

The sky was clear and they could see the whole city with the blue sky as a bonus. The sun was starting to go down, the sky already started changing colors. Hopefully the production team would allow them to watch it before they’d have to fly back to the Forever Love Mansion.

Her smile brightened as she nodded to a couple of young boys, standing at a window, with their noses pressed against the glass. “Look at those. They seem to enjoy it too.”

The older of the boys took the other by the hand and pointed at something, apparently explaining something in hushed tones.

Phil smiled too. “I always wanted a brother.” Someone to play with would’ve been great!

The waiter came and cleared off their plates.

“Do you have any siblings?” Audrey asked when the waiter was gone.

Phil shook his head. “I’m an only child.”

“Me too. Any other family?”

Again, he shook his head. Eric and he shared similar family history. “My mother died three years back. She was the only one left,” he said. So much was true for him, too. “My father died when I was fifteen.” This was part of Eric’s fiction. Phil’s father had died when he was ten.

Audrey stared at him, her lips pressed together.

“I’m not alone,” he said and pulled up his shoulder. This was why he hated having to tell anybody about his family. He had wanted to change Eric’s story, but as it was, it was easier to keep the story straight. Otherwise he might’ve had to produce a family for the show, shouldn’t they catch the stalker and Garrett sooner.

He smiled at Audrey. “I mean, I don’t have family, but I have someone. A friend.” The words were out before he could bite his tongue. Now was not the time to bring up Melinda, as relevant as she might be to him. But too late. “I have one friend and they’re like family. At least to me they are.” Melinda was everything he had left. The only person who really knew him. The only one he – Such a stupid idea to bring her up! A date with another woman was no time to talk about is unrequited love for his ex partner. He swallowed hard and pressed his lips together. He was being terrible. Audrey deserved to have a good time.

Still, Audrey kept staring.

He hated this. “Now you pity me.”

She looked down into her glass of wine. “I envy you.”

Now he could only stare. She seemed to shrink in her chair.

“My parents are gone and I work a lot,” she said and looked up again. “I love my job, I really do. I just move a lot and I’m just …” She shrugged, almost as if to apologize. “There’s really no one.” For a moment she was quiet. Then she snorted. “That must sound really pathetic.” The smile on her face was a sad one.

“No, it doesn’t.”

She snorted again. “You don’t have to make me feel better.”

“That friend I told you about?” He asked and swallowed. “We lost touch a few years back. I tried to stay in touch but …” He had lost Melinda after Bahrain. He had tried and tried, but she wouldn’t talk to him. “A lot in their life changed and I thought our relationship wouldn’t survive it and …”

Most times she wouldn’t even pick up the phone when he called. And since she had left active duty, she had always been very professionally buried beneath loads of paperwork, so he usually didn’t even get to see her when he had been in town. He thought he had lost her. Not that he ever had her in the first place. But then …

He swallowed hard. “Then I got shot and they came.” He shrugged. “She just came.” When he had opened his eyes in the hospital and saw her, he had thought it was a dream … But she had come. And now she was here with him too. She still had his back. He could be satisfied with that. He looked into his wine glass.

“What does she think of this?” Audrey asked softly.

He sighed. “That I’m a hopeless romantic.”

Audrey smiled at him. “I’m glad you are.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


The second one on one date in two days and Phil felt his stomach knot up.

Darkness surrounded them and the only light came from a cosy fireplace in the middle of the beautiful field in the middle of nowhere. - and from two tower lamps the production team had set up, even before Phil and Grace had sat down for their picnic.

Grace took his hand as they sat comfortably on pillows on the ground. He didn’t like how she looked at him, like he was someone great. Someone trustworthy. And the whole time he was just lying to her.

He missed being with Melinda. At least with her the rules were clear. Just for show, nothing more.

“I’ve never felt like this before.” Grace swallowed and squeezed his hand. Her beautiful blue eyes sparkled.

“Grace …” She deserved so much better than this.

“No, please.” She squeezed his hand again. Her palm was a bit sweaty. “I have to say it before I lose my nerve.”

Oh dear. He swallowed hard and braced himself.

“I never met anybody like you. You never make me feel stupid or silly, when I’m with you I always feel …” She sighed. “It feels like I’m floating. You’re such a special person and I’m in love with you.”

This was worse than he had thought. She was in love with him?

She took a shaky breath. “You don’t have to say anything. I know this must be very confusing with all of us pulling at you all the time and I’m not expecting you to say anything. I just wanted you to know.”

Oh God, this was torture. He hated this mission! “You’re such a fantastic person and I enjoyed every minute I spent with you. You’re so sweet and funny and wise and …”

“But you don’t love me back.”

“I’m so sorry.”

She pulled her hand away and wrapped her arms around herself.

“I’m so very sorry, Grace. I hoped I’d feel more, I just …” He felt horrible. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok.”

“It really isn’t. You deserve so much better.”

“But the heart wants what it wants. It’s not your fault.”

She was so damn sweet! He pressed his lips together and looked at her. He wished he could tell her the truth. He wished he could tell her that this was all fake to catch two criminals and that she was wonderful.

She deserved so, so much better.

  
  


o0o

  
  


Grace left after they returned from their date.

Phil glared at himself as he adjusted his collar in the mirror. He stood in his room – Eric’s room – and got ready for the day. The jeans and blue shirt seemed appropriate for today’s occasion.

He glared at himself again before he turned away.

Today was group date day. Usually he enjoyed those. - Well, enjoy was a strong word … He just missed Melinda and on group dates he usually got to spent some tome with her.

But not today. She wouldn’t be joining them.

Tomorrow at the cocktail party, he would make up for it. Or at least try to.

Phil bit down his bottom lip as he got the secret cell phone out of its secret compartment.

Make up for it?

Eric would have to make Diane feel appreciated. But Melinda didn’t expect anything from him but to do his job.

At least Maggie was happy with all the drama.

He pressed the button on the speed dial.

Before that he would have to perform a whole other show.

As always, Garrett answered the call before the second ring.

“Finally another human being!”

“I’ve got ten minutes, sorry buddy.” - He wasn’t sorry at all.

“Then you have another date?”

“Group date. We’ll go swimming with dolphins.”

“Lucky bastard.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you’d be in my shoes.” - Except that he did because Garrett was a two-faced liar with false loyalties and a threat to national security.

“Is this about Grace?” Garrett asked.

Phil hated the empathy in his voice. For that alone, he wanted to sucker punch him. But all in it’s time. For now, he just sighed. “I hate lying to all of them. I hate that I broke her heart. I really hurt her.”

“Focus on the cause.”

“Doesn‘t make me feel better.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t.” Garrett sounded … sad?

No. No, he wouldn’t get a pass because he still acted as a friend. He tried to kill him. So just no.

“Anything new on your end?” Phil asked.

“I’m so bored, Coulson!”

“That’s a no.”

“I’m super bored.”

“Call you tomorrow.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took forever to write! Why does writing always get hard when a story gets long? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts!


	8. Rough Enviornment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Diane sits around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s halftime! And it’s forever since I updated … Life is crazy busy. Good, but crazy busy. Anyway, here we are with a new chapter that wraps the first half of the story! Thank you for all your support and I hope you enjoy this!

The phone rang four times before Hill answered the call with a whole hearted, “Damn it!”

Melinda raised a brow. “Is this a bad time?”

“I burned my dinner.”

Melinda grinned.

“Not one word, May.”

“Didn’t say anything.”

“I know for a fact that you burned frozen pizza before, too!”

Phil just couldn’t keep any secrets!

Hill sighed. “Skye finally hacked the laptop. She’s decrypting the files now. Garrett wrote a diary.”

“Any confessions about treason so far?”

“Nope. Nothing useful yet. The key was a bust as well. I tracked it to a bank and checked it out, only thing in it was another postcard of an octopus. I placed an agent there in case there’ll be any movement.” Melinda heard how a trash can was opened. Then something fell into it. And the can closed again.

Apparently Hill would order dinner.

“I can hear you grin,” Hill growled. “Anyway, what kind of fun have you been up too?”

“Maggie is fine. So far we have no new leads.”

“I know. Dickface is losing his mind of boredom.”

Melinda gritted her teeth. Dickface deserved a lot worse than that. That guy deserved way worse. Someday soon, she’d punch his stupid teeth out.

“So is tomorrow your big day or what?” Hill asked cheerfully.

She frowned. They agreed nobody would lay hand on Dickface until they could put him away forever afterwards.

“Your one on one with _Eric?_ ” Hill added.

Oh. That. “Diane didn’t get a date at all this week,” Melinda said, “so I’ll have more time to keep an eye on the crew here.” Today it was Audrey’s turn. Tomorrow it would be Grace’s. The letter for Grace had arrived an hour ago. Ever since Grace was on cloud nine.

Which was great. Coulson was playing it smart and when he was on a date with other women, she could get more intel on the staff and women staying behind. Very smart. Good plan.

“Oh.” Hill sighed. “How are you holding up?”

“The shoes bother me. And the cameras. And the smiling.”

“I mean …”

Being at work at all. Being back in the field. “I know.” Melinda swallowed. “I got this.”

Coulson needed her. And she would go insane if she couldn’t be here with him. Never ever again did she want to feel as helpless as she did after he got shot. There was no way she’d lose him. There was no way she’d allow anybody to get that close to killing him ever again. And there was no way that Garrett would go unpunished for it.

“Thank you.” Hill said. “For doing this. For helping Maggie.”

Of course. Melinda forced herself to fake a smile. “So far it’s not much work, just wearing high heels and looking pretty.”

“You absolutely hate it.”

She absolutely did. “You’re welcome.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


Brunch was one thing Melinda actually enjoyed about this mission. The pancakes, the crispy bacon. The soup. The freshly brewed tea … Basically, once breakfast was over, they just added some more plates with foods to the buffet table and effortlessly like that, breakfast turned to brunch. Which would turn to lunch. Which would turn to afternoon tea with tiny cakes and Belgian waffles.

They really didn’t skimp on the food here. Or on the booze.

A glass of champagne in hand, Lorelei joined Audrey and Melinda at the table in the corner of the breakfast room. It had the best view of the garden. Plus the lighting on that table was usually too bright for the cameras to get good footage, especially on a beautiful sunny day like today. The camera people avoided it. Which was another reason why it was Melinda’s favorite spot to hang out in the morning.

“This is so weird,” Audrey said as stirred some milk into her cup of coffee. “I spent this whole beautiful day with him yesterday and today he’s on a date with Grace …”

Lorelei tilted her head. “Are you scared he’ll send you home?”

Audrey shook her head. “He gave me a rose, so I’m safe for the week but …” She shrugged. “It’s not like we’re exclusive, I know that. But yesterday, it felt …”

“Like it was just you and him?” Lorelei asked.

“Yes.”

“He made me feel special too. He’s such a great guy. He made me feel so special, but then …” Lorelei shrugged too. “There are so many other great women here and so far I only had one one on one date and- “ Suddenly her eyes widened and she clasped her hand in front of her mouth.  She turned to Melinda. “I’m so sorry, Diane.”

Oh, great. Pity party for poor contestant Diane. Melinda tried to look as brave as possible. “It’s fine.”

Both, Lorelei and Audrey stared at her.

“No, really. I’m fine.” Because this was all for show and Phil wasn’t romantically interested in any of them and they were lying to them all and – God, she hated this. She smiled and lifted her chin. “Please tell us more about your date, Audrey. Did you really jump out of a plane?”

Audrey nodded. “I thought I’d throw up, I was so scared! But he was so perfect! He said we didn’t have to, but we came all the way and I always wanted to do it, so we jumped together and it was …” Audrey smiled too. That sort of smile a sweet memory brought around. “It felt like flying! It was amazing.”

“That’s so romantic!” Melinda said.

Lorelei looked down and took a sip of her drink. “Did he kiss you?”

“Not yet.”

“Good.” Lorelei clasped her mouth again. “I’m sorry, I’m just – I know it’s silly but I don’t want him to kiss anybody else but me.”

“He kissed you?” Audrey asked.

“No, but there was a moment. We were dancing and there was this look in his eyes.” Now Lorelei smiled that sweet memory smile. “I think he wanted to kiss me but he wants to take it slow because of our situation.”

“He’s so respectful and kind,” Audrey mumbled. “Such a gentleman.”

Lorelei sighed. “And I’m behaving like a jealous nut job, aren’t I? God, I promised myself I wouldn’t be that woman, but -”

“We all feel like that. I know I do.” Audrey said.

Lorelei nodded. “He’s a very special man.”

Yes, if Eric was anything like Phil Coulson – and from what the women had told her he was – he really was special.

Then Audrey looked at Melinda. “Do you feel any connection with him?”

“You’re so composed, Diane,” Lorelei shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it.”

Melinda put on her brave smile once more and pulled up her shoulders. “I can’t make him love me if he won’t. I can’t control him, I just can be patient.” She could be his partner. And if all she could ever be to him was a friend, then that would be enough.

She nibbled on her lip.

“So you felt it, too?” Audrey asked.

“I think if he’d just give me a chance, if we could be together … all of this would be …”

“Worth it.” Lorelei said.

“Yes.” God, Phil was worth everything. He was worth suffering through this undercover mission and much more.

  
  


o0o

  
  


In the past three days the man in front of her had been on dates with seven different women, none of them her. Yesterday he took Jennifer, Katherine, Anisa, Kristin and Lorelei to a group date on the beach. Swimming with dolphins included.

And now he was holding her hand as they stood in a beautiful garden, surrounded by roses of all colors and the moon and stars above them. And a camera right to their left. As usual, Rebecca the camera woman didn’t grand them any sort of privacy. Nor did Jess the sound woman. Of course Javier had to be here too.

Right now Javier stood out of frame behind Phil and gave her two thumbs up. What an idiot.

“Isn’t the night beautiful?” Phil asked and swallowed. “The stars are so shiny and perfect.”

Tonight he wore a dark blue suit. His tie was perfectly straight, still Melinda itched to adjust it for him. Or simply to grab it and pull him in for a kiss. The heels she wore would make it so easy. Stupid notion.

Instead she squeezed his hand. “What’s wrong?” He was babbling, so something was definitely wrong.

“Grace,” she said. Grace hadn’t come home from her one on one.

Phil sighed. “I really hurt her.”

She just squeezed his hand again.

“Sorry, you don’t have to hear about this -”

“This is hard for all of us.”

“Which is exactly why I shouldn’t put this on you.” He looked at her and pulled up his shoulders. “I’m your worst date ever, I’m sorry. Diane.”

Sometimes he was such a dummy! Though he had a point. This was far from jumping out of a plane together. Why hadn’t he taken her on a date like that? She loved jumping out of planes! Why hadn’t he taken her on a date yet? Well, not her. Diane.

Also not the point.

“I mean, you’re part of this. Of course it’s hard on you, too,” she said. “And you can tell me everything you want and I will listen.” Which was true for both Diane and her, though she would’ve never phrased it in such a mushy way. That was more Phil’s style.

Going by the mushy look he gave her and the double thumbs up from Javier behind him, she had said the right thing.

Phil sighed. “I know it might not look like I have a plan, but I do. I’m trying to keep people from becoming collateral damage.”

“I know.”

“I’m really glad you’re here.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded and squeezed her hand. “I really missed you this week.”

Yeah. She had missed him too. Then again, “That wasn’t my fault.”

He flinched. “True. I want to take you on a one on one date. I want to spent more time with you, I want …”

“Then why don’t you?” she asked. Diane asked. Melinda knew why, but Diane was confused and insecure. How could they find love if he barely spent any time with her?

“I’m gonna explain everything. I just can’t now.”

Melinda tried to her best to look hopeful yet hesitant.

Phil swallowed and squeezed her hand once more. “Please, just stay.”

Before she could say yes, Peter walked up next to them, carrying a single red rose on a white satin pillow.

“You asked for this?” he asked and gave a them a ridiculously handsome smirk.

Melinda would take any bet that just moments before Peter had smiled like that into some camera to tell the viewers what was about to happen now.

“Perfect timing!” Phil said. With his free hand he took the rose from the pillow  and Peter faded back into the background.

Phil cleared his throat. “Diane, will you accept this rose and stay?”

Everything about him made her want to kiss him. This was so bad.

“Yes,” she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I’d love to hear from you! So if you have the time, please leave a comment. :)


	9. Cocktail Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Phil gets stolen away twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life’s still crazy busy (but good!) so unfortunately I can’t update as quickly as I’m used to. Thank you so much to @crazymaryt and @carolineaquino73 for their endless support and to @imaginationallcompact, @firedragon1109, @badassblackwidowcavalry and @plechka for telling me to write!

It smelled like pizza. And everything else was dreadful.

Another group-date.

Worse; a pizza making competition.

Melinda stood in the first row of a big teaching kitchen, behind a cooking station, that had everything a chef might need; an oven, fridge, stove, lots of pots, pans and knifes. The only things she really liked here were the knifes.

Why in the hell had Phil thought that getting Melinda into a cooking competition could be a good idea? Like ever?

Yesterday he had taken Anisa horseback riding and the day before that he and Faith had been to a wine tasting.

Why hadn’t he taken her to the wine tasting?

But nope. Instead she got stuck with this.

“Relax your lips, please,” Hand said. She had one hand under Melinda’s chin as she refreshed Melinda’s lipstick with a small lip brush.

“In five minutes we’ll be with you, Diane,” Javier said from behind her.

“She’ll be ready,” Hand said and put the lip brush away and pulled out a big fluffy one from her set. The powder brush.

Melinda hated getting her face powdered!

Hand pulled out the hated box of loose powder, dipped her brush in and lightly dusted Melinda’s forehead.

Behind Melinda, Lorelei was having a chat with Phil about why she chose to top her pizza with spring onions.

At the kitchen station to their right, Audrey was chopping basil. Because of course she knew how to cook.

Going by sound, Katherine was already setting up a plate for her pizza behind Audrey’s station.

“How’re you holding up?” Hand asked when she finally put all her brushes away.

Melinda shrugged. “So far I didn’t burn anything.”

“Might be because you didn’t switch the oven on yet.”

Oh crap.

Grinning slyly, Hand left her behind to powder up somebody else. Melinda rushed to the oven and kneeled in front of it. And it wasn’t turned on. The light was, yes, but that was it. Inside the oven, her pepperoni and bell pepper pizza was still raw.

Crap!

Of course Phil had to pick this exact moment to show up at her station. And of course Javier and his film crew followed him. While Phil walked up next to her, Javier, Rebecca the camera woman and Jess the sound lady moved around the station.

Phil smiled at Melinda.

With a sigh, she stood up. “I swear I’m only useless in the kitchen.”

He raised a brow.

“I forgot to turn on the oven.”

His smile widened. “At least you didn’t burn anything.”

Damn him. She had to smile too.

“Did I tell you I’m a good cook?” he asked.

Now was he trying to make her feel better or was he just mocking her? Knowing him, he was probably doing both. She squinted at him.

He pulled up his shoulders. “If you stick with me you’ll never have to do any of this ever again, that’s all I’m saying.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


At the cocktail party Audrey led him to the pool area of the garden.

Candles were set around the pool, some floated on the water. Two upholstered lounge chairs stood in front of the pool.

Her hand felt soft in his. When she squeezed his fingers gently, he squeezed back. His heart was pounding. This was a lie. And this was wrong.

But it was also the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for him.

She looked absolutely stunning in her short blue dress. Her eyes looked even bigger and darker tonight. The twinkle in them made him giddy.

The film crew walking in front of them reminded him of reality. This wasn’t a date. This was a mission. Just like yesterday had been a mission. After Audrey had won the pizza competition, he had whisked her away to a little gondola ride, where they had enjoyed each other’s company and Audrey’s winning pizza.

“I noticed you really liked the red wine,” she said as she stopped next to the lounge chairs and let go of his hand. For a moment he missed her touch. As false as all of this was, she was real. And it felt good to be with a woman who was actually interested in him. Well, in a version of him.

She picked up something from the ground. “So I got you a bottle of wine from my hometown.” She showed him a bottle and he let go of her other hand.

“I thought we could share it,” she added. Her blushing cheeks made her look even more beautiful.

“I’d love that.” He smiled.

Five minutes later they sat next to each other on one of the chairs, each holding a glass of delicious red wine in one hand and holding the hand of the other with another. She was right. The wine was delicious!

Audrey put the glass on the ground. “You make me feel good.”

He opened his mouth, but she shook her head.

“Sorry, that was clumsy. I mean, around you I always feel good. You make me feel like home.”

His heart raced and all he could do was stare at her. She was so sweet. And he really liked her. This was so unfair!

She snorted and looked away. “That was super cheesy, I’m sorry.”

This was unbearable. He forced himself to smile and put his glass down too, so her could cover her hand in both of his. “I told you; there’s nothing too cheesy for me.”

Audrey met his gaze and sighed. “I’d really like to kiss you right now.”

He hated this. She deserved better. He wished he didn’t have to pretend. He wished he could set her free and send her home. But this was the job. So he leaned in.

Her lips were even softer than her hands. Everything about was soft and sweet and gentle. For a moment he closed his eyes and allowed himself just to kiss her. She deserved a moment without pretense. And it had been ages since he last kissed someone like this.

He pulled away and squeezed her hand again. “This is really nice,” he said.

She looked so happy, it broke his heart.

Then he saw Melinda standing next to the camera in front of him and his heart just stopped.

  
  


o0o

  
  


Melinda stepped in front of Rebecca’s camera as Javier gave her a gentle push. Of course another camera person named Sebastian was already in place to capture Melinda’s face as she approached Phil and Audrey.

As soon as Phil saw her, he moved away from Audrey. - Or maybe it was just her wishful thinking.

Audrey didn’t look happy at all.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Melinda said. Nope, she was not. Last thing she wanted was to see him kissing other women; stupid and selfish as it might’ve been.

God, she really was stupid. This wasn’t just Phil kissing somebody else, it was Phil being undercover kissing someone else to keep that cover and even if not – Melinda pulled up her shoulders and gave him a flirty look.

Even if not, she had no hold on him. Her feelings were just her own.

“It’s just we barely saw each other this week. So could I steal you for a bit?” she asked.

“Of course.” He squeezed Audrey’s hand. “To be continued?”

She smiled gracefully. “To be continued.”

God, they were cute.

This sucked!

Phil got up and let go of Audrey.

Melinda didn’t even notice that she had reached out hers until he grabbed it. Not that it wasn’t a good move, especially in front of those cameras surrounding them. Still.

Usually she had better control over her actions.

She lead him to their little space in the garden. The flowers in the pots had changed, now they were a mix of dark red and pink roses. A pizza box rested on their bench.

Phil raised his brows. “What is this?”

“I can’t cook but I’m very good at ordering.” - She had to ask Javier for help since she hardly could’ve used her Hill phone for this. He had been thrilled with her “romantic idea” and so here they were. Pizza, camera and all. Because of course Javier, Rebecca and Sebastian followed them.

He shook his head laughing. “You amaze me.”

Yeah, right. Grinning, she pulled him over to the bench. After they sat down, he opens the box like a present and his eyes light up.

“Pepperoni’s my favorite.”

Of course she knew that. “I’m sorry it’s cold.”

He picked up a slice and bit into it. “At least it’s not raw.”

She elbowed him and he laughed. That moment she felt like it was just them. Just Phil and Melinda.

She picked up a slice too and for a while they just sat next to each other and ate. Like they did so many times before.

Then he looked at her with such … what? Adoration, maybe? Or maybe he was just pretending to fall in love. Whatever it might’ve been, it made her heart skip a beat.

“This is really nice.” His voice was soft.

“It really is.”

“I could get used to this.”

“To cold pizza?”

“To you.” He swallowed. “I meant to eating cold pizza with you.”

She’d eat cold pizza with him every day. She was so dumb.

Phil pressed his lips together before he looked at her. “That was a lie. Pizza isn’t really a factor here.”

Her heart started racing. She really, really wanted to kiss him.

“How do you picture your life?” she asked instead. “I mean, once you’ll get married?” Because she really needed a reality check right now. She needed him to say something that wouldn’t fit her at all. Just a little reminder that this was him doing his job.

Because damn it, she wanted it to be true so badly it hurt.

“I don’t have a fixed picture, if that’s what you’re asking for. I don’t need a house – though it could be nice, or a dog or anything …” He pulled up his shoulders. “I want to be with someone who wants to know me. Who’s smart and kind and strong and … I don’t really care what we do as long as we can do it together.”

That sounded perfect. Just … perfect. She swallowed hard.

“Do you think you’d like to marry again?” he asked.

“Only the right person.” She looked at him. If she’d ever marry again, it’d be him.

Their gazes lock. He had such beautiful eyes!

They kissed on other missions before. She wanted to kiss him now. It would be good for the mission.

He tilted his head a little.

She was just doing her job, right?

God, she wanted to kiss him.

She leaned into him and –

“Rebecca Shepard, you’re under arrest.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND that is chapter 9 for you! Gosh, I’m nervous about this one! Please don’t hate me! I promise I’ll make it up to you. :) As always I’d love to hear from you so please leave a comment (even if you hate me)!


	10. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which they stay in character a bit longer.

So she had two more reasons to kick Garrett’s ass. Melinda tried to look upset and confused instead of pissed as all the women gathered around in the big hall. Three cameras where set in front of them, two behind them.

“Are you okay?” Audrey asked and rubbed Melinda’s arm.

Melinda took a shaky breath. “I’m fine.”

An hour ago that dickface had arrested Rebecca and everything after had been a bit of chaos. Of course the cocktail party had to be interrupted. - Not ended. Just interrupted. They would start rolling again any minute now.

They still had a rose ceremony to film.

So they all stood here, in their pretty dresses with their pretty make up and pretty shoes, waiting for some news. - And waiting for Eric to ask them to stay.

“I saw how they brought Rebecca out with cuffs,” Anisa said. Her voice was shaky. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Melinda pulled up her shoulders. This was one of the new reasons she wanted to kick Garrett’s ass.

At least Garrett had been smart enough to bust Rebecca with them on set, if things should’ve gone south.

Unfortunately Rebecca went without a fight. Melinda was really in the mood for a little fight. Or just a chase. Anything that would grant her the opportunity to hit Garrett by accident.

“Did Eric say anything?” Audrey asked. “He was with you, right?”

Melinda shook her head. “We were both just so shocked!“

Phil had been just as surprised as she had been. How could Garrett blindside them like that? He might not have ways to communicate with her but if Phil kept to their arrangements, he called that jerk every other day for updates on the world outside the show, just like she did with Hill.

“Does anybody know why they arrested Rebecca?” Anisa asked. “What could she’ve done that would be so horrible?”

Melinda shrugged again. Until Hill would call this mission complete, her mission was to stay in character. And Diane was clueless. “They just arrested her. It all happened so fast!”

In a corner across from them, Peter patted Phil’s arm. Phil looked convincingly worried and confused. Those two emotions were always much more in his wheelhouse than in hers. Hand powdered Peter’s face. Maggie and Javier stood next to them. Javier had his arms crossed while Maggie said something to Peter and Phil that Melinda couldn’t understand.

Next, Peter walked up in front of the women and opened his arms. For the first time, he wasn’t smiling his charming smile. “Today was a hard hit for our hit show.”

“Peter, please just read the script.” Maggie said from the sidelines.

Peter turned his head. “Excuse me for trying to add flair.”

They both looked at each other until he broke under her gaze and turned back to the camera.

“Ladies,” he said and brought his hands together in that power triangle. “Today was a long day but please know, you’re safe. The police is handling everything and so we’re free to continue the journey to love.” He turned to the side again and extended his arm. “Eric?”

As Phil stepped into the frame, Peter stepped a little to the side.

Phil took a breath and smiled at all of them. “Life is crazy sometimes and I’m glad I have all of you with me to go through this experience. You’ve all been fantastic!”

Eric moved back in, “But now you have to decide who will stay by your side and who will leave tonight. Eric, who will get the first rose?” With those words, Peter took a red rose off a little tray, held by a kneeling camera assistant off camera.

Phil took the rose and looked at every one of the eight women left.

“Diane.” His gaze stopped at her and Melinda pressed her nails into the palms of her hand. Damn her knees for getting shaky. This wasn’t real. This wasn’t him! But oh, that look in his eyes and that soft smile on his lips …

He cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry our little date tonight got interrupted. I feel so connected to you and I think, given the chance, we could be something great. So please, will you accept this rose?”

“Of course.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


Half past midnight they had finally wrapped up filming for the day and Phil could call Garrett from the privacy of his room.

Phil clenched his fist while the phone rang for a sixth time. And a seventh. And an eighth. 

What the hell took Garrett so long?

Finally, after the twelfth ring, Garrett answered the phone, “Hey, buddy.”

“What the hell was that?”

“Would I’ve known that you’d be smooching May, I would’ve given you another minute to enjoy.”

Phil closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. Soon enough they would arrest Garrett. Soon enough that bastard would root behind bars forever. 

“Why did you blindside us?” he asked as calmly as he could.

“There was just no time to tell you, I swear. Just this morning I got a lead that Rebecca had been in a relationship Anisa Patel. The personal trainer. Things ended badly.”

“I know who she is.” They went snorkeling just yesterday. She had told him about her nieces and they had bonded about their dislike for Thai Chi. It was just way too slow of a sport. The only time he enjoyed it was when he was watching Melinda going through the moves. Phil swallowed. “Who gave you the lead?”

“I went far back down Anisa’s Facebook today and checked every photo for familiar faces. And there they were. Holding hands November two years ago.”

“That’s a long time to hold a grudge.”

“Hacked myself into the database of her timeline and she obviously deleted a lot of pictures. I checked out Rebecca’s social media too, and I found a picture of her and Anisa from last fall. They’re carving a pumpkin together, looking all smily and in love. - Just like you and May did today.”

He hated that Garrett still spoke to him like a friend might. That bastard. But they would deal with that later. For now Phil had to keep up the facade. So he focused on the obvious. “That’s still very slim. Anything else?”

“We’re interrogating Rebecca right now. So far she’s just denying everything. Hill is getting pissed.”

“Maybe because you arrested someone based on two photos and a hunch.”

“Told you I had to act fast.”

Nope. Not buying into that.

“Come on, I just know in my gut that she’s responsible. And as soon as we got her confession, we’re all free of that mission. Isn’t that what you want?”

“I want to get the right person so the people on this show and behind it are safe.”

“Will you ever tell May?”

“Tell her what?”

“How you feel about her.”

“She already knows that she’s my favorite partner.”

“Only because she’s way prettier than me.”

Phil forced himself to chuckle at that. “Sounds about right.”

  
  


o0o

  
  


Phil dried his hair with a towel when he heard a knock on the door to his room. It was half past seven in the morning and Maggie had promised they wouldn’t start shooting before nine today, so what could she possibly want now? Sighing, he dropped the towel to the bathroom floor. 

“Coming,” he said as he walked out of the bathroom. He grabbed a pair of jeans from the side chair and slipped into them, before he opened the door.

“Oh,” Anisa said. For a moment, she stared at his chest, her hand half lifted towards the scar the bullet had left him with, before she swallowed hard and looked into his eyes. “I’m so sorry to disturb you so early, but I needed to talk to you.” 

Rebecca.

“Good morning, Anisa,” he said, ignoring the camera man, the sound lady and Javier who stood behind her. What other chance did he have? Until Hill confirmed that Rebecca was indeed the person they were after, the show was still going on. “Would you like to come in?”

Anisa nodded sternly and pulled her shoulders up. She and the film crew followed him inside. Javier closed the door while Phil kept focus on Anisa.

“Is something wrong?” he asked. Eric asked.

“I wanted you to hear this from me,” she said and pulled in a breath. “Rebecca and I were dating once. For a year. We broke up February last year and … “ She looked at him with tears dwelling in her eyes. “I thought we were friends after. But if she did anything to hurt you because of me … I’m so sorry, Eric.”

“This isn’t your fault.”

“Maybe I should’ve told someone when I met her on set but we …”

He shook his head. “It’s not your fault.”

“I thought we were friends.”

“I know that feeling.” He rubbed her arms. “You can’t take responsibility for somebody else’s action. Even if they’re your friends. Ok?”

She smiled and threw herself into a hug. “Thank you so much for saying that.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Thank you for telling me.”

Javier held up a thumb and gave a big smile. “Perfect!” he mouthed.

Then someone else knocked.

“This is getting crowded,” Anisa said as she pulled away from him.

He laughed. She was such a sweet and funny person! She definitely deserved better than this. He squeezed her hand.

It knocked again.

“I’m sorry, I have to take this,” he said.

Anisa and the film crew stepped out of his way.

Phil opened the door.

“Cut,” Maggie said.

Phil frowned at her. “What’s wrong?”

Maggie held up a piece of paper. “You got a letter from …” She glanced at the film crew and Rebecca. “your doctor.”

Yeah, no. His doctor wouldn’t contact him through Maggie.

Anisa gasped. “Are you alright?” She placed her hand on his shoulder.

“It’s just a reminder for a check up,” Maggie said.

Looked like he was here to stay. Because he would bet his right arm that Maggie was holding a new threat against the show. And him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with this and still reading! As always, i can’t wait to hear your thoughts! :D


	11. One on One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Diane finally gets her date.

She hadn’t noticed anything. Nothing.

How the hell could she’ve missed the connection between the Rebecca and Anisa?

And why?

Because of Phil Coulson and acting powers and her stupid heart. This was a job and she was better than this.

She should’ve noticed something!

Melinda wiped away some sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand as she ran.

Sure, Phil usually was better at that relationship stuff and he didn’t pick up on it neither, but he hadn’t been living with Anisa for almost two months!

God, this was bad.

Rebecca may not have been the stalker they had been looking for, but she easily could’ve been!

Melinda switched up the gears on the treadmill and speeded up. She would’ve preferred to go on an actual run to work off some energy, but the work out room of the Forever Love mansion.

Next to her, Audrey worked on a cross-trainer.

Lorelei was on a one on one with Eric right now, which hurt, which was stupid and another reason why she needed to step up her game. She needed to be more focused, more observant.

She was here to protect Maggie and these wonderful women, who deserved so much better than this.

Rebecca wasn’t a threat. She was out of the show to keep everything going, but she wasn’t a threat. Which meant the real threat was still out there so she couldn’t allow herself to mindlessly flirt with Coulson.

Just because she had lost her heart didn’t mean she had to lose her brains too.

“Could I talk to you all for a moment?” Anisa asked from the door way.

Melinda almost stumbled on the treadmill. How the hell could she’ve missed Anisa opening the door?

Audrey gracefully stepped off the cross trainer. “Of course!”

Melinda switched off the treadmill and grabbed a towel.

“I just …” Anisa pulled up her shoulders while she hid her hands behind her back.

“I didn’t know Rebecca would do something like that. If I would’ve thought she’d ever be a threat to Eric I would’ve told them about us, I swear!”

Of course everybody had found out once Garrett had escorted Rebecca off the premise two nights ago. Anisa had been hiding ever since. She looked exhausted.

Audrey crossed her arms.

Melinda just waited.

Anisa sighed. “I never wanted any of this to happen … God, you must hate me.”

“We don’t hate you,” Audrey said.

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Melinda asked. Keeping that sort of information a secret was just stupid.

“We broke up so long ago, at first I didn’t even recognize her, with that camera in her face all the time and …” Anisa shrugged. Were there tears welling up in her eyes? “We didn’t end things badly, I have no idea why she’s doing this.”

A tear rolled down Anisa’s cheek. “I’m so so sorry,” she said.

God, this was wrong! Rebecca and Anisa had done nothing except for not revealing their former relationship.

“You couldn’t know this would happen,” Melinda said quickly.

Audrey nodded and rubbed Anisa’s arm.

“I feel so foolish. I should’ve just said something, I should’ve -” She stopped talking when they heart a group of people coming towards them.

That could only mean one thing in this house.

Anisa quickly wiped away her tears, just in time before Peter, Javier and a film crew appeared in the door way.

“There you are, ladies!” Peter said and spread his arms in a grand gesture as he smiled at them. As always, he looked perfect in grey suit and blue shirt. No tie this time.

That man was ridiculously handsome.

“Did we miss something?” Javier asked. Could you guys go back for -”

That man just pissed Melinda off.

“Nothing happened,” Audrey said quickly. “We just finished our training, right girls?”

Anisa and Melinda nodded sternly. The crew didn’t have to film everything!

“Fantastic, we’ve got a little surprise.” Javier said but he looked at them skeptically. “Could you all maybe freshen up a bit and come to the lounge room in fifteen minutes?” he asked.

An hour later, they were finally ready to start shooting. All of the five women currently not on a date with Eric sat around on one of the big plushy sofas. At least this time they got to wear jeans and t shirts instead of cocktail dresses.

Peter stepped in front of them as the camera behind them probably captured his perfectly lid face right now.

“Ladies,” he said, “you all look fantastic but unfortunately I only bring a letter for one of you.” He made a dramatic pause.

It took Melinda all her self control to keep her from rolling her eyes.

“Diane,” he said. “Tonight I’ve got a special letter for you.”

It felt like her heart stopped! Next to her, Katherine and Audrey gasped when Peter took out a golden envelope from his jacket.

“Oh my god!” Melinda shouldn’t feel as nervously excited about a fake letter from a fake person, but …

She quickly opened the envelope and pulled out a handwritten note from Phil. God, if that note could just be from Phil, she would be happy.

As she read his words, a smile crept on her face.

“What does it say?” Audrey asked.

“Dear Diane, please dance with me into the night. Yours, Eric.” Kind of cheesy. It was ridiculous to get this happy about a date with a fake person. But finally there it was. Diane would get her one on one with Eric.

“That sounds so romantic!” Anisa said.

“There is more.” Peter said.

All the women looked at him. “More?”

Peter smiled. “Eric had a little present delivered to your room, Diane.”

  


o0o

  


Phil clenched his hands just to keep them from tapping against the sides of his legs.

He and Hand stood in front of a beautifully renovated hotel from the twenties with stone walls and golden applications around all the wooden doors and window frames.

The sun was still shining as it was early morning, so the crew had forgone to put up candles on the drive way, but the obligatory flower arrangements were still there.

Such a shame to waste flowers like that, but Phil had to admit, everything looked stunning.

Hopefully Melinda would like it.

For some reason he thought it would be a good idea to kick it old school with Melinda so that was why he stood here in a black tux and fancy oxfords in black and white as Hand powdered his shiny forehead.

Melinda'd probably roll her eyes as soon as she would see him. And this.

Because this wasn't really her style. - Which was exactly why he had planned this date for them. A date for Diane and Eric.

If he would ever get the chance to take Melinda somewhere he would choose something low key, maybe a small restaurant or just a walk somewhere and after food off a food truck.

Or he would cook for her at his place. Maybe she would like that.

He swallowed hard.

No, she wouldn't. Because she didn't have feelings for him. Not like that. And he was a fool.

“Breathe,” Hand mumbled, “and keep your hands still. Shaking doesn't look good on camera.”

He glared at her but said nothing.

“Five more minutes,” Maggie yelled.

Five more minutes until Melinda would arrive.

Maggie walked over the drive way and towards them. “You look great, Eric!” She quickly patted his arm, before she moved on. “Someone move that flower pot to …”

Around them, everybody was moving. The light team was busy setting up extra lamps and those weird white reflectors. The sound people checked out the sound system and three camera teams set up their equipment. He could see Natasha Romanoff set up a camera right in front of the beautiful hotel doors.

Because of course the black widow knew how to operate a movie camera.

“It’s good that Nat is here,” he said.  “It’s good. Another pair of eyes doesn’t hurt.”

“Hm.”

“Think we’ll catch them soon? Did Nat say anything to you?”

“No new intel, sorry.”

So he had to continue with this charade. That meant more overly romantic dates with Melinda May. Kissing Melinda May.

Fantastic.

“You’ve never been this nervous with any of the other women.”

“I know.”

“Know what you’re doing?”

“Just my job. And so is she. I know that.”

A black limousine drove up towards the hotel.

Melinda was here.

He was so screwed.

  


o0o

  


She stepped out of the limousine and his heart skipped a beat.

“You look breathtaking,” he said and swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “Absolutely beautiful!”

Her hair was pulled up in a loose bun, her eyes looked soft and her lips looked so cherry red, he could only think about tasting her.

“Thank you.” Melinda smiled at him and twirled in her golden ball gown with lacy details around the sweet heart neckline. The full skirt with tiered ruffles swayed as she twirled. “So this is what you’d like to see me in?”

“Which little boy doesn’t dream about dating a Disney princess?” He grinned.

She raised a brow. “Well, enjoy it while it lasts because as pretty as it is, I won’t be able to keep this look up on a daily basis.”

“That’s alright.”

“Too generous,” she said dryly and he felt himself blush.

One moment he thought he was doing well flirting with her and the next he just put his foot in his mouth again. “No, I mean I like your dresses and how they show your legs and …”

“So you’re a leg men, hm?”

Oh good, she was just mocking him!

She smiled at him. “If you treat me well, I might just show you a little bit of my ankle before the night is over.”

“Be still, my heart can’t take this!”

She laughed and he just felt happy.

Ten minutes later they walked into the big ball room, her hand resting on his offered arm.

Melinda stopped as soon as they walked through the swing doors. “Oh …”

“You like it?”

“It’s … ” She swallowed and nodded.

The room was big enough to hold two hundred people but now it was empty except for a single table and two chairs. White roses everywhere in the room. Hundreds of them. He knew microphones and cameras were placed in some of them. And of course there was Nat following them with a camera.

The table was set beautifully, too. White porcelain and polished silverware. Crystal glass.

“Not too much?”

“Definitely too much! But I like it.”

“Very good. Because I won’t be able to keep this up on a daily basis either.” He tilted his head and raised a brow. “May I lead you to our table?”

  


o0o

  


After dinner, the sun started to set. As two waiters cleaned their table, three violinists showed up in black dresses and started playing music a romantic tune. Lightly treading people in black carried in at least thirty candle holders in various sizes and distributed them around the room.

“You really went all out, didn't you?” Melinda asked.

“Go big or go home.” He stood up and reached out his hand.” Would you like to dance?”

“I'd love to.” She took his hand and he lead her to the middle of the room. - Since they had all this space, why not use it?

They got into position and started to dance. A slow waltz.

This felt familiar. This felt like their early days. He swirled her around and pulled her back against him.

“This is nice,” he said.

“Definitely not our worst date.”

“Worst date?”

“You made me cook!”

He grinned. “And we all survived.”

“You’re not as funny as you think.”

His grin just widened.

“You’re just lucky you’re so handsome.”

Yeah, that was definitely Diane talking, still it made his heart skip another beat.

He saw Nat following them with a camera as he turned them around again. - This was a show. This wasn't real.

He cleared his throat. “So, tell me about yourself.”

“Very smooth.”

“That’s me, smooth and handsome – your words. And humble, of course.”

She snorted. “Of course.”

“But seriously, what brought you here?”

“On the show?”

“Every week that passes and you stay … I can’t believe my luck.”

“Your eyes.” She lifted her chin and looked up to him.

Nothing would be easier to lean down and to kiss her. With Nat's camera on them – and most likely two other hidden cameras – she would kiss him back.

And that was exactly why he didn't do it. He wanted it too much for the wrong reasons.

“I saw your video and you’ve got very kind eyes,” she said quietly. “And the world can be a cruel place … “ She gave a little shrug. “You seemed like someone who worked to make it better.”

Something in her tone made him perk up. By now they were swaying on a spot. He wasn't sure if it qualified as dancing any longer.

“I loved my job. The … the army. I loved to fight. I loved it.”

She pressed her lips together and he just waited.

“I went to some dark places and …”

He rubbed her back and she looked down and over his shoulder. He made sure to move them so that Nat would catch his face instead of hers. He knew what was next. Diane's backstory wasn't pretty and though it was fake, fake Eric knew better than to expose Diane to any obvious camera.

“We were in this village and there was this girl and she …” Melinda pulled in a breath. “She had a bomb. She would’ve … She could’ve hurt so many people.”

The hairs on his neck stood up. This wasn't part of Diane's story.

“We thought the girl was a victim. We were wrong.” Melinda looked at him again. “I didn’t know how else to stop her.”

The girl? Oh my god. Bahrain. She was talking about Bahrain. “You saved them,” he said. “You saved the village.” Weak words. He wished they were alone. He wished he could talk to her as himself.

She looked at him again. The expression in her eyes broke his heart. “I killed a child,” she whispered.

He knew what ever had happened had been bad, after all the girl had died, but this … this was so much worse. No wonder she had quit after that.

He wished he had known. He wished he could've been more useful afterwards.

“Thank you for trusting me with this,” he said and felt stupid.

“Still think you’re lucky I stayed?”

“Very.”

She pressed her lips together, tears welled up in her eyes. When he pulled her closer, she leaned in and rested her cheek against his shoulder.

He held her tight for the longest time.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took forever because a) Life is still nuts and I’m usually too tired after work to do much of anything and b) this chapter is a monster! Thank you all for your support! I had fun writing this (we’re finally getting to the more juicy bits!) and I hope you still enjoy it too! Please let me know what you think. :)


	12. Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Eric’s plans fall flat.

This was definitely not the worst way to spend a Monday. The sun was shining, their wet suits were tight and made Phil's butt look amazing. His arms looked amazing, too. Strong and just … nope. No.

She would not fantasize about her partner as they walked down the beach on a fake date with a ten people camera team following them. She would not.

With their shoulders touching, they both stopped as soft waves of cool water started running over their feet. Camera resting on her shoulder, Natascha moved in front of them until the water hit her waist.

The camera would love this place! The sand was white and soft, but the small beach was surrounded by rough cliffs that towered over the ocean. A few feet to their right, a small passage lead up to a cliff. Twenty minutes ago, when they had arrived, a group of young adults in wet suits had been jumping off that cliff and into the ocean with great hurray.

Of course Maggie had stopped it immediately. No disruption or distractions on her set!

Unfortunately the ocean was absolutely peaceful today, so Nat had nothing to fear. There was not even a slight breeze going.

This was their second One-on-One. “ _With you I'd ride every wave and weather every storm._ ” Eric's card had read. The two surf boards next to them in the sand would be no use today, unless they wanted to just paddle on the ocean.

Phil – Eric sighed. “I'm sorry,” he said.

“Not your fault.” She brushed her hand over his arm to comfort him. He couldn't control the weather! Still, it was a shame. Being on the ocean would've probably offered them some opportunities to speak without a microphone dangling over them.

But maybe it was for the best. Since they had danced and she had told him about Bahrain because somehow the words had just fallen out her mouth, they hadn't really talked. Well, they hadn't really talked since this had started but now she felt like they really needed to. And at the same time she feared facing him without cameras.

He looked down to her. “Well, we could just take a walk on the beach?”

That was a boring option. Melinda looked at the cliff. “Or we could …”

He followed her gaze and his lips twirled into a smile. “Are you sure?”

She grinned too. They did already wear their wet suits, so why not?

“We'd have to be quick.” Phil glanced at Maggie who already eyed them suspiciously.

Yeah, this would be fun! She reached out her hand and as soon as he grabbed it, they ran like Hydra was after them.

  


o0o

  


The water was cold as they crushed through its surface together, but for the first time on weeks she felt free.

They stopped holding hands to swim back up to the surface. He smiled at her when they took in their first breaths of air, drops of water still running down their faces, and she longed to kiss him.

“Feels like whenever we're doing this, someone's after us,” he said and she wanted to kiss him even more.

But instead she grinned. Being chased and jumping off cliffs felt indeed like good old times.

Swimming on the spot, they looked up at the cliff where the ten people camera team now stood, Maggie was up front, probably glaring down at them, she was so far away, Melinda couldn't really tell.

Phil ran a hand over his face. “Maggie's gonna kill us.”

Her grin widened.

He grinned too, but then the smile faded and he swallowed hard. “Melinda about the girl …” He swallowed again. “Was that Bahrain?”

Her stomach clenched. Because now he knew the truth, because she had told him like an idiot, because the way he had looked at her that night and because he was her best friend and because she had almost lost him and she loved him so much.

She pressed her lips together.

He nodded sharply and took a breath, before he smiled gently at her. “Thank you for telling me.”

She felt her throat close up as tears dwelled in her eyes. “So you don't hate me?”

“You're my favorite person.”

He just said that.

His favorite person. Her stomach clenched again and she felt silly, because of course he didn't hate her. He was always sweet and wise and just so … so Phil.

For a moment there was that look in his eyes like he wanted to say something else, but then he looked up to the camera team again. “Maggie's _so_ gonna _kill_ us.” He looked back to her and sighed. “Also, I promised her I'd kiss you today. She said we lack steam.”

Her heart skipped a beat, but she managed to snort. “As long as she doesn't want you to set a record for bra removal, we should manage.”

“Ha ha.”

“I'm gonna kiss you now,” she said. Because he would cradle her face and come in close and it would be sweet and gentle and it would kill her.

She waited for him to give a small nod, before she placed her hands on his shoulders as they both paddled their legs to stay afloat. Tilting her head, she leaned forward and kissed him.

Kissing him was still as good as she remembered from previous missions. The way his mouth went soft under her lips and how he sighed as she ran her tongue over the seam of his lips before tasting him.

He put his hands on her waist.

This would be so much better without having to swim at the same time, she could get closer then, rub herself against his body. If she'd try that now, they'd probably sink.

So she pulled back. “Think that's enough steam for Maggie?”

He took a deep breath. “We'll probably have to reshoot that once we're on land.”

  


o0o

  


Maggie didn't yell at them when they got out of the water, but her glare was loud enough. Though Jared later told Melinda that the running and jumping off the cliff had played very well on camera. - ' _People will eat it up!_ '

She had them kiss on the beach, water just raising up to their chests, so they could stand and Nat could get a close up of them. This time, Phil kissed her like she had feared. Slowly, tender. It was so romantic and beautiful, it hurt.

So she escalated things, pressed herself against him and tasted him again. Of course he made things even worse by groaning and pulling her close against him. She could've stayed there to kiss him like this for hours.

But they had other locations to go to, this wasn't the end of their date, but just the beginning.

Next Eric treated Diane to burgers and fries at a small diner close to the beach.

They had changed into regular clothes, Phil wore dark blue jeans and a white shirt, while she wore a green summer dress and silver high heels.

At least she got to sit in those damn things. From their table at the window they could see the ocean.

The walls of the diner were white, the tiles on the floor were deep blue. The few walls that weren't windows were decorated with oversized pictures of the ocean, which felt ridiculous with the real thing right in front of them. The waitress was friendly and the burgers were great.

She felt a little bad for the camera team who just got to watch them eat. Nat definitely had shot some longing looks at her fries. And Jess from sound payed more attention to Phil's cheese burger with extra bacon than to the microphone she was dangling over them. Maggie had yelled at her already for dropping the microphone into frame once.

Melinda couldn't really blame her. It was Phil's second burger and the sounds he made as he took another bite made it seem like he was eating ambrosia.

It made her want to kiss him. The good thing was, Diane and Eric would definitely have to kiss some more.

And that second burger was no more. Impressive. The last time she had seen him eat with that much enthusiasm they had been in Rome at their favorite pizza spot.

Melinda reached out a hand and stroked a spec of mustard off Phil's chin and he smiled, before he ran the back of his hand over his chin as well.

“My father couldn't cook, but he made a mean burger on the grill.” he said. “Those are almost as good as his.”

She couldn't help but smile at him as she folded her arms on the table in front of her plate that still had some fries left on it. “You can order a third, if you want.” She herself would wait for dessert. They had sundae and apple crumble pie and there was no better dessert than sundae and apple crumble pie.

He stole two fries of her plate. “No, I'm good, thank you.”

“You sure?”

“If I'd order a third burger, I'd eat that third burger and then I'm gonna explode.” He stole two more fries. “Would you like dessert?” he asked then.

“You're gonna eat dessert?”

“Nope, but if I remember correctly, you've got a sweet tooth. So, dessert?”

“That would be nice.”

He gave her the biggest smile as he stood up. “I'm so glad you said that because otherwise this wouldn't work!” He walked over to Javier, who stood next to Nat.

What wouldn't work? Melinda tried to see what Javier handed Phil, but Phil's back blocked her view.

When he turned back to her, he carried – was that a chocolate rose? - on a little pillow.

“Diane,” he said as he kneeled next to her, “you made this day so sweet for me and I hope you'll make it even sweeter by accepting this chocolate rose.”

God, that was so cheesy! She smiled brightly at him. That silly, adorable man. She knew that was technically Eric pulling a stunt for the camera but at the same time she had no doubt that Phil had come up with every single line.

He offered her the rose. “Please stay.”

Of course she said yes.

He kissed her for that, short, sweet. And because he was utterly, annoyingly perfect, he got back up to get her some sundae and pie.

“Now tell me everything about your mother,” he said, “I wanna make a good impression when I meet her next week.”

“You're gonna love her. She's just the sweetest!” Melinda fought hard to keep her smile on her face. “And she's gonna love you.”

Because clearly SHIELD would use a stand in agent to play her mother.

Clearly, they would.

  


o0o

  


The week went by and Melinda was stuck on the mansion as Phil went on three more dates with other women. Which didn't bother Melinda at all, because she had no right to be jealous, she had not.

Which was why she had beaten the sand bag in the training area until her hands felt bruised.

“Are you okay?” Anisa asked. She worked through some yoga poses next to her.

“Of course.” Melinda forced a smile. “It's just getting to me … It's just so …”

“Intense?”

“Yeah.” She grabbed her towel and dried the sweat on her forehead before she grabbed a water bottle and took a big sip.

Time for a quick shower in the facilities next door.

On this Friday it was Audrey's turn to enjoy Eric's company. They would probably kiss. Audrey still wasn't home, it was half past nine in the evening and the limousine had picked Audrey up at ten this morning so they clearly had a blast on their date.

And of course he would kiss her. Audrey was amazing and unlike her, she had no crazy baggage and she was real. Phil deserved something real.

Damn, why was she so stupid? This was a job. Loving him was no excuse to lose her head again. She needed to focus on the job, get that crazy stalker so this would all end before they'd be forced to meet her fake mother next week.

By now she was just ready to go home, get some space between her and Phil and bury her feelings until she felt some sort of normal again.

After her shower, Melinda slipped into a light dress and went on a walk through the mansion. So many girls had already left, the place seemed empty. Anisa was still doing yoga and Lorelei and Faith were already in their rooms.

When Melinda passed the main hall, Audrey finally returned. The smile on her face, that light flush on her cheeks told Melinda everything.

Another woman in love. Melinda swallowed hard. “Hi, Audrey!”

“Oh, hi, Diane!”

“Did you just return?”

“We spent an hour on the porch, just talking and …” Audrey shrugged and blushed. “God, this is so awkward.”

“You look happy.”

“I am! He's just … He's just so very wonderful, you know?”

Melinda gave a short nod, smiling still. “Have a good night, Audrey.”

“Have a good night, too!”

Melinda's cheeks hurt as she walked to her room. Once there, she went to the bathroom to call Hill.

“Tell me we'll be finished with this soon,” she asked as soon as Hill picked up.

“Bad day?”

“Just tell me I'll get to punch Dickface today.”

“Not yet. But Skye finally cracked the computer and found some promising stuff, some hidden chat conversations. We're working through them now and found chats between “ _lobster_ ” and “ _octopus_ ”. We think they use those postcards to give themselves new online name.”

“So we're getting closer.”

“Very close.”

That counted as good news in her book. “So maybe I'll get to punch him tomorrow?”

“Fingers crossed.” Was there a smile in hill's voice? “Now wanna tell me about your day?” Hill asked.

Yeah, no. “Nothing noteworthy. Maggie is doing fine.” She would not discuss her heartbreak with Hill. She wouldn't discuss it with anybody, because she would get a handle on it. And that was that.

Hill sighed. “Spit it out May.”

Why did Hill have to know her so well? “I hate lying to everyone,” Melinda said. Because that was the truth. “I think Audrey is falling in love with Coulson.”

“You mean Eric.”

“We both know Coulson undercover just means it's still him but with a different name.”

“He's not the best actor.”

“Just catch Garrett, okay?”

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story kicked my butt but I think I got to kick back today! Thank you all for still believing in me and this story and thank you so much for your support! I hope you enjoy this! If you have the time, please leave a comment! I love to read from you!


	13. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they meet Diane’s mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BIGGEST THANKS to @pooritalianfan, @dianemaryallison and @firedragon1109 for being the best writing buddies one could hope for! :D

He sent Faith home two days ago, so now he was down to dating four amazing women and this week he would meet their families. In less then an hour he would meet Melinda’s mother – Well, he knew Melinda’s mother, but he would meet Diane’s mother. A fake mother. So no need to be nervous, right?

Phil washed off the bits of shaving cream, before he ran his hands over his now soft cheeks. He was already dressed; dark grey jeans, black and white checkered shirt and a grey tie combined with a black sports jacket. Classy and cool, the perfect outfit to meet the fake mom of his fake date.

The other agent on a staged home would make it feel more like a mission which was perfect, because otherwise he was about to lose it!

He applied some aftershave, the same type that Melinda had bought for one of his birthdays once, so he hoped she still enjoyed the scent.

He definitely spent too much time kissing Melinda. Maggie was thrilled with it, but it got very hard to remind himself that this was all fake. Because he was losing it.

They were always surrounded by cameras and he had to call her Diane, so distinct between what was real and what was pretense was easy enough, right? Nope.

Because it was still Melinda’s lips on his and her hands on his chest when they kissed. He loved the way she tasted. He could spend a whole night just kissing her and -

That was exactly the problem!

He sighed heavily before he took the secret phone. Time to call Garrett again. Maybe that would cool him down. Or at least make him angry enough to stay focused on the job!

“Broke any hearts today?” Garrett asked once he answered the call.

Phil clenched his fist. Yep, that man definitely made him angry! “So not funny when it’s true.” He modulated his voice so most of his anger was held back, he just sounded kinda tired.

“Stop rolling in self pity, at least you get to do real work.”

“Going to the Philharmonic with a beautiful woman isn’t real work. “ Audrey had kissed him during the concert. Sweet. And sexy. She was such an amazing human being! Yet still, nothing compared to Melinda. Talking to Melinda was more exciting than kissing Audrey. He was such a shitty person for doing that to her. Phil bit his lip.

Garrett snorted.  “Oh, poor you. At least you’re not stuck in a van, is what I’m saying.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Phil swallowed hard before he switched to humor; “On a level from one to ten, how bored are you?”

“I’m considering joining an online sudoku club.”

“My face is a mask of horror right now.”

“Which one did you take to the Philharmonic?”

“Audrey.”

“The one without family, right?”

“Yes.” Which was why they hadn’t spend the night with any family, but in a classical cello concert.

“Did you send her home?”

“Not yet.” Because Maggie didn’t allow him to send home more than one woman a week. He had sent home so many in the early stages, that the program needed the other woman to stay on. Lying sucked.

“And who’s the lucky girl you’ll take out today?” Garrett asked.

“Diane. - Melinda.”

“Is it true that special agent Lian May will come in? I heard Hand say something along the lines …”

What now?

“You hadn’t heard?”

He pulled in a deep breath. “You’re my only real contact in this op.”

“You see Hand every day!”

“And instead of giving me important intel, she just powders my face.”

“Did she really tint your lashes?”

“What did Hand say about special agent Lian May?”

“That she’ll come in to pose as Diane’s mother.”

It wasn’t true. He would not spend tonight with special agent Lian May. No chance. She was way too poised and classy for a mission like this. - Like her daughter. Who was here, pretending to be in love with him.

Oh crap! “And you’re just telling me now?” He pulled off the grey tie. He needed to change. What was he thinking? No way would he go face special agent Lian May wearing checkered anything. “I have to hang up.”

“Just please call me after the date?” Garrett asked, sounding whiney.

Yeah, no. He ended the call. And Garrett had no reason to whine. Someone _really_ should’ve _told_ him about Melinda’s _mother_!

o0o

Since the fifteen minutes that Melinda had arrived at the location – a stone cottage surrounded by wide fields and trees – Hand had been applying stuff to her face while Javier had pulled her around to find the perfect spot for her to stand for when Eric would arrive.

She hadn’t even had time explore the house that should be her home! She hadn’t even met her fake mother!

Natascha had watched everything with a smirk on her face. Once this would be over, Melinda would kick her ass for that!

But now Javier dragged her to a tree close to the driveway and Hand applied another coat of red lipgloss and then – then the limo arrived.

At least Javier and Hand vanished into the background! The camera people got into position, and – Action! - he stepped out of the car.

He wore blue jeans, white shirt, no tie and a dark grey tailored jacket. And he carried the most grand, beautiful bouquet of wild flowers she had ever seen. It was so big, he carried it with both hands.

She walked towards him in silly red high heels with peep toes that gave the “perfect” pop of color to her black dress with white dots that she was forced to wear today. At least her hair was wrapped into a functional, high ponytail. It was the only thing she would’ve picked to wear on herself.

Then again, as uncomfortable and strange as she felt in her outfit, it was a good reminder that this was all grounded in deceit.

So she gave Eric her best ‘Diane’-smile. “You brought me flowers?”

And the smile on his face dropped so fast, it almost made her laugh.

“They’re for my mother, aren’t they?” She had figured as much but flustering him was always such fun! She ran her hands over his shoulders as she reached him. She could almost feel how Natascha zoomed into the scene.

Phil tilted his head. “I’m sorry.” He looked so guilty and cute, she wanted to kiss him! - Which was bad. Very bad.

She took her hands off his shoulders and hooked her right arm under his left to guide him towards the house. “She’ll love them!”

Just when she turned around, her mother – her actual real life mother wearing jeans and a loose _floral_ blouse, no less – opened the door.

“Mom!” she gasped.

Somehow Phil managed to hold the flowers with one hand, because suddenly he covered her hand on his lower arm with his and squeezed.

Without him, she might’ve stopped breathing. But he was here, calm and steady by her side, and she smiled at her mother. “You didn’t have to come out! We were just on our way to you.”

“I just couldn’t wait!” Her mother opened her arms, which was even more disturbing than the floral blouse she wore. So Melinda had no choice but to let go of Phil and go hug her mother as her heart was pounding.

What the hell was going on?

Her mother held her tight. “You look good,” she mumbled close to Melinda’s ear, so nobody else could listen in. “It’s so good to see you. Now relax!” She let go of her.

Melinda took a breath and gestured at Phil. “Mom, this is Eric.”

“Hello, ma'am.” He offered her the flowers.

And her mother’s face lit up. “Those are beautiful! Thank you so much!” She took them off him. “Come in, kids!”

This would be a long, weird afternoon.

o0o

So far, so good. An hour into the family date, he was still alive and though Melinda had left the beautiful modern, white kitchen to be interviewed by Javier a minute ago, special agent May hadn’t stabbed him with a knife, but handed him one. That might be because Nat was filming them, but still.

With a grin, special agent May gestured at some carrots on the counter. “Could you slice those?”

“Do you want them in discs or stripes?”

“Stripes, please.”

He started on the carrots while she cut off broccoli in small florets.

“You’re good with that!” she said.

“Thank you! Cooking relaxes me.”

“I think so too. My daughter on the hand …” She clicked her tongue.

Phil grinned. “We had a pizza making contest and she forgot to turn on the oven.”

“You got lucky! When she was about ten, she almost burned my kitchen down, trying to make fried eggs.”

He wondered if that was a true story. “I can definitely picture that.”

She put down her knife and looked at him. “You really like her, don’t you?”

And because Nat was filming them, he had to look at her too, and be honest. “It’s more than that for me. She means a lot to me. _A lot._ ”

“I can see that.” She smiled.

His throat felt tight and he focused back on the carrots.

“You’re good for her, you know? I haven’t seen her so relaxed ever since …” She shook her head and pressed her lips together. “It’s so good to see her like this again.”

It definitely was! The way her face had looked when she had told him about Bahrain … open and vulnerable. Ever since they had returned from that hell, it had been like there was this wall between them. And now that wall was gone and he had his friend back.

“And if I know my daughter at all, you’re very important to her too,” special agent May said and picked up her knife. “And if you hurt her, I’ll break both your legs.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Now he could smile at her.

o0o

Even later, after a good dinner that special agent May and he had cooked together, he and Melinda walked alongside a flower field, holding hands and enjoying the evening sun. They had to walk slowly, so Nat wouldn’t fall on her butt as she walked backwards in front of them. Another camera person followed behind them.

Phil squeezed Melinda’s hand and smiled. “Your mom threatened me.”

“Of course she did.”

“it was kinda great!”

She looked at him as if he lost his mind and he laughed.

“ _Scary_ , but great,” he clarified. “She really loves you. I’m glad you have family like that.”

“She is pretty great.” Melinda smiled too. “Scary but great.” She stopped and turned to him. “You’re pretty great, too.”

And because the cameras were on them and because it was his job and it was just too hard to resist her, he leaned down and kissed her.

He was so screwed.

o0o

It was almost midnight, but Melinda couldn’t sleep. They had flown back to the mansion after their walk and now she was back in her room.

She was tired and her whole body felt exhausted from the day and meeting her mother and jet leg, but whenever she closed her eyes, she thought about that kiss today. Those kisses. And she couldn’t fall asleep whilst thinking about kissing Phil. Because she would dream of him and it would be perfect and then she would have to wake up. Just like this would all end eventually too.

So she grabbed her secret phone and called Hill. She picked up after the tenth ring.

“Why didn’t you tell me my mother would be there?” Melinda asked. For one, because talking about her mother was better than obsessing over Phil, and secondly, Hill really had some explaining to do!

“May?”

“A head’s up would’ve been appreciated!”

“Garrett is on the run.”

The words took a moment to register. “Excuse me?”

Hill took a deep breath. “We tried to bring him in this evening, but he was waiting for us, he took out an agent before he left.”

Melinda tightened her grip on the phone. “Tell me which way he went, and I’ll hunt him down.”

“You can’t leave.”

“I’ll get him.” She would hunt that rat down and drag his ass back to operations. She would -

Outside her room, someone screamed so loud, it almost made her heart stop.

“Who was that?” Hill asked.

“Lorelei.” Melinda had recognized the voice immediately. Something was definitely, horribly wrong!

“Stay in place and call me -”

But Melinda was already out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking with this story and supporting me trough this progress! I had to take a break to restructure the ending of the fic, but I’m so excited for what I have planned for them (and you) now! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Can you believe there are just two chapters left?! Please let me know what you thought! I LOVE hearing from you!


	14. Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which he breaks hearts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to @firedragon1109 for cheering me through writing this! You’re the best! And big thank you to ALL of you for commenting and liking and leaving kudos! Your support means the world to me!

When Melinda came out of her room across hers, Lorelei looked up, her eyes widened. She stood in front of her room door, holding a piece of paper in her right and something else on the palm of her left. Her face was pale. She looked so vulnerable in her striped sweatpants and the dark blue t shirt with planets on them. Her hair was up in a pony tail, her feet were bare. A light blue envelope lay next to her right foot.

But there was no threat. No guy holding a knife to her throat, no hooded figure with a gun, nothing. There wasn't even any blood.

Melinda felt horrible for being disappointed. Her heart was pumping fast and adrenalin ran through her body. She should be hunting down Garrett. She needed to fight someone. God, she wanted to fight someone right now! But instead she had to be here and comfort Lorelei. She hated doing comfort. Phil was the one who was good at making people feel safe. She was the one who made people run and hide. This would suck.

She patted Lorelei's arm. “Are you okay?”

Lorelei shook her head. “I wanted to get some chocolate before bed and when I got out I found this.” She showed her left hand.

Melinda took a deep breath and took a tiny metallic thing from Lorelei's palm. “That's a bullet,” she said.

“It really is a bullet?” Lorelei's voice broke. “Because it looks like one but I thought …” She shook her head again and swallowed hard. “Why would someone send me a bullet?”

“I don't know.” Melinda rubbed Lorelei's arm gently. But whomever had left this here, she really wanted to find them and punch their throat.

Lorelei took a shaky breath. “The bullet came with this.”

Lorelei handed her the paper and Melinda read it as she rubbed Lorelei's back.

“ _Your love is a lie, leave or die.”_

What the absolute hell? Now Melinda really wanted to punch someone! She pressed her lips together. This whole mission was stupid, the show was stupid too but the women here were great people and they deserved better than this.

Suddenly they heard steps. Melinda pushed Lorelei behind her. Her heart was racing, her hands were up and in fighting position, before she could even think about it.

Audrey, wearing a bathrobe over a red silk negligee, turned a corner, carrying a cup of tea in both her hands. “You're still up?” she asked with a smile. “Had I known, I would've …” She frowned. “What's wrong?”

“Lorelei got a letter.”

Lorelei grabbed Melinda's arm. “You have a letter, too! And there's one at Audrey's door.”

Shit. Melinda looked at her door and there it was, a light blue envelope on the floor. And one leaned against Audrey's door. She looked at Lorelei and squeezed her hand. “I need you and Audrey to go into your bathroom and lock yourselves in until I come back,” she said as calmly as she could. “Don't come out for anyone but me.”

“We're not gonna leave you alone!” Audrey said.

But she flinched when new steps approached them. Melinda pulled her behind her too.

“Who's there?”

“It's us!” That voice belonged to Javier. He walked quickly down the long hallway, and thank you, thank you, Nat followed directly behind him, a camera balanced on her shoulder.

“What's going on?” Javier asked.

Melinda looked directly at Nat. “Get security, someone left threats.”

  


o0o

  


The y had found a l etter with a bullet in front of Anisa's door as well  when they had gone to check on her.  Melinda had brought all the women into her room, where they  sat on the bed and talked and talked and talked about the letters and who might've send them. An hour later  Melinda was ready to pull  out her hair, when Maggie and Phil entered the room.  Maggie wore her usual black attire, Phil wore grey sweats and a black shirt with a Captain America logo on it.

L orelei and Audrey turned on the bed, so they could look at him. Melinda and Anisa just sat up straighter.

“Good evening, Ladies,” Maggie said. “We want you to know that you're safe here. We're taking these threats very seriously and we will do everything to catch whomever did that.” She looked at each of the women. Her voice was soft. “And of course I understand if any of you want to be released from your contracts. My show is my life, but your well being is the most important thing for me. I assure you, should you decide to stay, my crew and I will do everything to catch whoever did this and to protect you. Still, I understand if you'd rather leave.”

“I agree with Maggie,” Phil said. “I love having you all here with me, but I wish you nothing but the best should you choose to leave now.”

“I'm staying,” Audrey said.

Lorelei lifted her chin. “I'm staying too.”

Anisa nodded sternly. “Me too.”

Phil and Melinda exchanged a look. They wouldn't run from this fight now. Melinda smiled at him. She was so ready to kick some ass.

  


o0o

  


The day after that he sent home Anisa. Yesterday he sent home Lorelei. Of course both cried, of course both felt heartbroken. And he felt so awful. This was just awful.

The only thing he could do was the minimize the pain and humiliation he was forced to cause these women.

Which was why he had to do what he had to do tonight.

This was all wrong. He pulled at the striped tie around his neck. He felt like he couldn't breathe.

The restaurant he stood in had dark wooden furniture and reminded him about a little sushi restaurant he and Melinda had discovered during a mission in Osaka. The decoration was sparse. Just a single white orchid and a long candle stood on each table. The chef that ran this place had studied in Tokyo and his sushi was legendary.

This was the last week and Maggie and her crew really had topped themselves to make the last dates before the finale a romantic storm.

Audrey and he were supposed to start their evening here. They had even organized an opera singer to serenade them during their meal. And after that they would get the key to a beautiful hotel suite with a look over the city, where they could spend the night together.

Of course he was dressed to impress in his black suit.

Maggie was very excited about all of this. Apparently this all would look amazing on TV. He was just so ready for this to be over. Especially with Garrett still on the run. But first they had another creep to catch.

Nat already sat up her camera, so she could follow Audrey as soon as she would come in. Hand adjusted his tie again before she squeezed his shoulder. “You can do this,” she mumbled. “Just breathe.”

Finally Audrey arrived. She looked so beautiful in her bronze colored dress. Her hair framed her face in loose curls and fell down over her left shoulder, exposing the side of her slender neck.

She smiled at him as she walked towards him.

God, he hated this!

Then she stopped, her arms that she had raised to hug him fell down to her side. “You’re sending me home.”

“Audrey …”

“Your poker face is the worst.” She hugged herself and took a step back. You’re sending me home.”

“I’m sorry.” He pulled up his shoulders.

Tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her face. God, he was the worst! He wanted to reach out to her, but that wouldn't be fair.

“Audrey, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I’m so so sorry, I just …” He was so sorry. He didn't know what to say.

“It’s Diane, isn’t it?” She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. “You’re picking Diane.”

“Yes.”

She pressed her lips together and nodded.

“I wish I could …” he tried.

She shook her head. “Did I even have a chance?”

“I would never willingly hurt you like this. You’re such a wonderful person and I admire you and I -”

“But you don’t love me.” She sounded defeated.

He was defeated, too. “Not like you deserve.”

“Do you love her?”

“Love of my life.” At least about that he didn't have to lie. “I’m so sorry, Audrey.”

New tears streamed down her face, she pressed her hands against her mouth and turned away from him.

This was the best he could've done for her and still it was terrible.

Five minutes later, Audrey was gone and Maggie glared at him, her hands placed on her hips.

“Couldn't you have gone on a date with her first?”

And hurt her even more? Hadn't she seen the tears on Audrey's face just then? What kind of monster would he have to be to have taken her on a date and spend a romantic night with her, knowing he would still dump her? That she never even had a chance?

“Don't look at me like that.” Maggie glared at him some more. “I'm just trying to make good TV.”

He snorted. Yeah right. Good TV. “I will make up for all the romance you just lost out on,” he said.

“Then I really need you to step things up with Diane!”

“No problem.”

At least the only broken heart there would be his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one more chapter left, whohooo! What do you guys think? Any ideas for Phil’s big romantic finale with Diane? ;)


	15. Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eric reads a letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOUBLE FEATURE! Biggest thanks to @firedragon1109 for helping me push through this. And thank you to everyone who just commented on chapter 14! I read your comments as I wrote on this and it really helped me push myself to give you the finale today! WHOHOOO! I had such fun this last chapter, I hope you all enjoy it too!

She hadn't worn heels for a week now. Usually that wouldn't be anything to be excited over. - She hadn't worn heels when Phil had been on his dates with Lorelei and Audrey, but now it was her romantic date with Eric, and still, no heels!

It was a TV miracle!

This morning Diane and Eric flew to a tiny island in the Caribbean. They drank cocktails, took a snorkeling class, walked alongside the beach holding hands. - and they had done all that bare foot!

Then he had grilled her the perfect steak on an outside barbecue that belonged to a small one room cottage, while she sat at a little seating area, drawing circles in the sand with her right foot.

And now? Now they lay on the big bed in that small cottage, their arms and legs wrapped around the other, kissing each other as if there was no one else in the world.

But of course there was someone else. There was a whole film crew. They had set the mood accordingly, just enough light so the camera would have no trouble seeing them, buckets of fresh flowers on each side of the bed, some strategically placed candles, some soft music in the backround.

Phil rolled them around so Melinda landed half on top of them and Nat moved around the bed to shoot them from another angle.

Melinda was sure, Javier was pointing directions with his hands because both Nat and Jess from sound kept adjusting their positions. And she kept close attention to her surroundings. Otherwise Phil and his hands and his mouth – oh god, that mouth – were the only thing to focus on and she was playing with fire as it is.

God, that man could kiss! He ran his hands up and down her sides with just slightly too little pressure. She wanted him to really touch her. She wanted him to move his hands under her shirt and -

“That's a wrap!” Javiar said. “We're outta here, enjoy the night, guys.”

Phil broke their kiss. “Thanks, Javier,” he mumbled before he nibbled on her lower lip. His hands caressed her lower back.

It was best to just stay in role. What else could she do? So she just kept kissing him. And felt guilty.

Then he pulled away. “They're gone,” he said.

She sat up and moved away from him. Her heart was racing, her face felt hot and she could still taste him on her lips.

Phil leaned against the headboard and tilted his head. “Is Javier a bit too invested into this relationship or is that's just me?”

“No, it's definitely him.” She smiled at him, grateful for his humor. She moved to the other side of the bed and made herself comfortable, crossing her legs underneath her.

“Have you talked to Hill, lately?” he asked.

“Yesterday. They're still searching for dickface.” She couldn't believe that asshat was still on the run!

Phil raised a brow. “Dickface?”

“Hill's codename for Garrett.”

“Figures.” He snorted and grinned. “Did you notice anything weird lately?”

She snorted. “This whole experience is weird.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Not your fault. At least I didn't have to wear heels today.”

“You're very welcome.” He sounded so pleased with himself, she wanted to kiss him again. But then his expression changed, he drew his brows together and looked down. “I sent Audrey home yesterday,” he said. “I didn't wait until after the date. I just sent her home.”

Oh. Melinda's stomach tightened.

“She cried.” Phil pulled his shoulders up and crossed his arms. “And I'm really the worst person for the job because as soon as I came in she knew I wanted to break up.” He snorted and glanced at her. “So much for pokerface.”

She hated this. “I'm sorry, I know you care about her.” She licked her lips. Maybe you could call her after this is over?” She didn't want him to ever speak to Audrey again which was selfish and stupid, but … But he deserved better. “I'm sure you could fix this,” she added.

He just pressed his lips together and shook his head. Relaxing his shoulders and arms, he pulled his legs up to his chest. “Do you think we'll be able to catch whoever is stalking us tomorrow?”

“God, I hope so.”

He smiled at her. “You really want to punch someone, don't you?”

Punching someone would be so great right now!

“Maybe after that we could take a mission together that involves more punching,” he said lightly.

She stared at him, her heart was racing. There could be more. There could be another mission with him.

“I don't mean to pressure you. I just …” He sighed. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” She really, really had missed him. And this felt different than she thought it would. She wasn't terrified. This felt good. - Well, the moments that felt like a normal mission felt good. Being in the field with him felt good. Not the undercover stuff. She pulled her brows together. “ But I'll pick the mission.”

“Sounds great.” His face lit up and she wanted to tell him she loved him so badly, she had to bite her tongue.

 

o0o

 

The sun was rising over the ocean when he brought her to the beach the next morning. She had thrown on a light blue sundress, he wore jeans and a shirt and their feet were still beautifully bare so she could feel the warm sand underneath her.

A camera on a tripod already awaited them, Javier, Maggie, Jess and a cameraman named Mike followed after them. Quite a crowd.

It should calm her. It should make it obvious that this was all for show. But he held her hand and he looked so nervous and cute and her heart felt all fluttery.

After they were perfectly positioned to the ocean and the sun and Maggie gave them an ok sign, Phil pulled a piece of paper out of the back pocket of his jeans.

They stood an arms' length apart now. She wished, he'd still touch her.

He pulled in a shaky breath and looked at her. “I know you aren't a fan of many words and I tried to keep with as short as possible, and -”

This was too much. She reached out and squeezed his arm. “Just start,” she said quietly.

He unfolded the paper. “I wrote you a letter. The first draft was five pages, but I got it down to one.”

She smiled and he smiled back. Her hand wandered from his arm to his hand and grabbed it. He had one hand to hold the letter, he didn't need two!

“Before I met you,” he said, his gaze focused on the paper, “I didn't believe in love at first sight, but the moment I laid eyes on you, something inside me just clicked. I'm usually a practical man so of course I doubted my own feelings and tried to rationalize my emotions to something more plausible like physical attraction.” He looked up. “I'm very attracted to you. That's not in the letter but I thought you should know.”

She laughed softly and squeezed his hand.

He squeezed back and continued to read, “I started to test myself and focused on everything else to gain some distance and perspective. So I dated all these other women just to realize that even a minute with you – even when it's eating cold pizza, even when you roll your eyes at my amazing puns - gives me more happiness than the most romantic date spent with anybody else. Over time it became more and more clear that once I'd get to be with you, I wouldn't want to date anybody else.”

“Which is why I got the last one on one.”

“I told you there's an explanation.” He smiled at her. “I'm sorry, there's still more.”

“Don't – just.” No need for apologies. “I'm listening.”

This time he didn't look at the note. He just looked at her. “I want you to know that however this ends, whatever you decide to do, that I love you. You're the most wonderful person I've met, you make me feel calm, you make me laugh and you're just …” He shrugged slightly. “I love you. I just love you.”

“I love you too.” God, she loved him so much!

He moved away and let go of her hand, so she grabbed his shoulders with both hands.

“What are you doing?” she asked and held on to him.

“Getting down one knee.”

“No.” She tucked at him as she moved towards him until she could wrap her arms around his neck.

“Just ask me,” she said and nodded. “Just ask right now so I can say yes.”

His whole expression softened. The way he looked at her melted her heart.

He placed his hands on her hips. “But the ring -”

“I don't care.” She wouldn't let go of him. “Just ask.”

“Me-”

A gun shoot shattered the moment.

Then everything and nothing happened at once. Everybody ran, Phil and Melinda ran towards the shoot, Maggie and the rest sought for cover. Nat and Hand screamed somewhere, another gun was fired and they ran and ran until they found Nat sitting on top of Peter, who had his face in the dirt and his hands turned on his back. Hand stood next to them, holding a gun in one hand, a phone in the other. There was more yelling. Mostly Peter yelled, about how Maggie had ruined him, how she had bought his love to lie on the show and about they all deserved to die.

And Maggie yelled because this was crazy. Peter was crazy! And how could he do that to her? To the crew? Their show?

But Melinda could only think of what Phil had said. What he had wanted to say.

Because Diane and Melinda are very different words.

Her heart was racing and there was no one to punch and there was nowhere to run.

Nat pulled Peter up from the ground. Hand tried to calm Maggie.

“You've got this?” Melinda asked. Her voice sounded strange in her ears.

“Of course.” Hand nodded.

“Good, then Coulson and I can talk.”

Phil swallowed hard. “Talk?”

Melinda looked at Maggie. “If a camera team follows us, I will hurt you personally.” Maybe that was too much. Maybe that was unnecessary. But God, she needed a moment with him alone. Just with him. No crew, no Eric. No Diane.

Maggie just stared at her, mouth open. She looked so much like her sister now. Hand raised a brow.

Javier pulled at his hair. “Who's Coulson?” He looked at Hand for help. He looked at Maggie. “What the hell is going on?”

But Melinda took Phil's hand and he followed her lead.

She stopped when they had reached a more secluded area. Palm trees surrounded them, granting them some shadow from the brightly shining sun. They could no longer see the ocean.

“What name were you about to say?” she asked. She probably squeezed his hand too tightly, so she let go.

He cleared his throat. “Name?”

“When you wanted to propose. What name?”

He swallowed once, twice.

“Because Melinda and Diane are very different names,” she said.

His eyes were widened. She could see sweat on his forehead.

“And I'm pretty sure you started with M before the gun shoot. And I was looking at your mouth. D and M look very different on the lips.”

He was panicking now, she could see. So this was something. This must mean something, because he was freaking out and he wouldn't freak out over nothing. This was good.

“Phil, please.” She reached for his hands again. This time she took both of them in hers. “Was that letter for me?”

His palms were sweaty and so were hers, but she didn't care. “Yes,” he said.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you! She tiptoed and kissed him. Their noses almost collided, but he finally understood and tilted his head. So she kissed him some more and more until holding his hands wasn't enough and she had to let go to wrap her arms around his neck, which was perfect, because he wrapped his arms around her waist and they kissed each other.

She had kissed him so many times during the last few weeks. They've been better at this before, more graceful, less sloppy, with more tenderness and finesse, but this. This was real!

She broke the kiss and buried her face in the dip of his shoulder. “What you wrote about something clicking -”

“First sight,” he said and kissed the side of her head. His hands smoothed over her back.

“I love you too.” She kissed his throat and pressed herself against him. “I love you so much.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” She felt his heart beat against her chest. “Really.”

“Uhm, guys?” Hand asked to her left.

“Hand!” Phil almost jumped back and she missed his touch.

“Hill just called.” Hand grinned at them. “They caught Garrett, thought you might like to know.”

“Yes, thank you, Hand,” Phil said. “We were just …”

“I have eyes, Coulson. Good for you.”

“So, uhm. Garrett?” He hid his hands behind his back. At least he could speak. Melinda could just stare and try to progress Hand's information.

“They're bringing him to operations, so there is no rush for us to get back.” Hand turned around and looked at them over her shoulder. “Or for you.” She grinned. “See you guys later.”

“So.” Phil sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he looked at her. “That's all wrapped up neatly.”

She couldn't believe they had caught Dickface without her!

“Are you mad because Hand knows?”

“No!” How could he think that?

For a moment he looked at her. Then he smiled. “You're mad because you didn't get to beat anybody up.”

“I really hate him.” And she really, really wanted to punch him.

“Wanna go and punch his face for interrogative purposes?” His smile widened and he reached out his hand.

She took it. “It's a date.”

For some reason that made him frown.

“What?” Did she say something wrong?

“Do you really love me?” he asked.

She nodded and pulled him closer. “Very much.”

“Are you sure it's not just Eric and the romance and all that?”

“First off,” She wrapped her arm back around his neck. “you're not that great of an actor, there isn't much difference between you and Eric. And I loved you before.” She kissed him quickly. “I've loved you for years.”

“You don't have to say -”

“When Hill told me you were shot, I -” She shook her head. “I couldn't breathe until I was with you in that hospital room. If you would've … If you … You can't die. You can't.”

“Okay.” He kissed her. “Okay.” He tilted his head and smiled. “That was quite a speech for you.”

She nudged his side with her elbow and he laughed before he kissed her again. For a while she was content with that, but then she remembered something. “I want that letter,” she mumbled against his lips.

“Hm?”

“The letter you wrote. I want it.”

“It's all yours.”

That was exactly what she had wanted to hear.

 

o0o

 

Two days later Hill had to visit her sister with some official documents and some bad news. But she would forgive her. She had to, right? They were sisters? Already hating the fight she was about to have, Maria knocked on the open door of the editor room, before she entered.

Maggie sat in front of a big computer screen, surrounded by three more screens. Each screen showed Diane and Eric. There was the moment where Diane had shattered the piece of concrete, one showed them jumping off a cliff, one showed them kissing at a beach …

“Hi!” Maggie looked at her briefly before she returned to the screen. Her fingers moved quickly on the cutting board in front of her. “Now tell me these two aren't in love,” she said, her voice filled with pride. “I have an eye for that sort of thing and I knew these two were meant to be.”

“I can't answer that.” Maria placed the envelope with the documents in front of Maggie.

“In your language, that means yes.” Maggie grinned as she opened the envelope. Then that grin faded and she sprang up from her chair.

“You're gonna confiscate all my footage?!”

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s finally complete, can you believe it? Did you enjoy it? I got all teary eyed writing their love confessions, what about you? Too cheesy? Just cheesy enough? Please let me know I’m not the only sap here! :D

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciatees feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short Comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Quotes from the fic (I seriously love when you pick your fav lines!)
>   * Questions (especially if you're worried about possible triggers or squicks for you that I haven't tagged yet)
>   * "<3" as extra kudos
>   * Reader- reader interaction
> 

> 
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